Dimensions: Stratagems
by Blazing Chaos
Summary: Future spin-off. His visit to Japan was meant to be one for any budding Tamer. Find allies, chat up the ladies, maybe even bump into the original Tamers! But he didn't quite plan for The War to break out, or to be caught in the crossfire...
1. Zach Strafer

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the OCs in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise). Zach Strafer is the property of Fireblast123.

Right, welcome to the reboot of Stratagems, with a completely different plotline, although there are some similarities in two of the characters, introduced in this chapter. Indeed, this chapter starts similarly to last time, but everything is about to change dramatically.

Heh, nonetheless, no sense wasting the good writing that I did in the first chapter last time. Well, kind of good.

This reboot is going to be a lot darker, indeed, if death is something which highly disturbs you, I implore you to stop reading, but if you're curious as to the nature of the future, then read on my friend.

This side-story is set during Book Twelve, during The War that takes place in that Book.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

**Stratagems**

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

_**CHAPTER 1**_

_Zach __Strafer_

* * *

Since I was a kid, I'd always wanted to see the action happen. Before I was born, there was this huge red blob thing, I think they called it the D-Reaper, which appeared in Tokyo. And then it all kicked off. There was the crystal man battle, the puzzle of the collapsing buildings, and that's not counting the huge number of bioemerges over the years! And who could forget what happened three years ago! I really did think we were all goners, hell, everyone did. But they stood up for us, for mankind and digi-kind alike, and they fought back. The Angels, the protectors of mankind against the Demons, and the other enemies who threatened to kill and destroy us. Since I was a kid and I first heard of them, I've been enthralled by them, enthralled by Digimon in general. I'd always wanted one of my own, one who'd be a loyal partner in all the adventures we had. And also, I know that chicks dig Digimon!

Well, I think they do at least.

And then, of course, I finally got my own Digimon. It was so cool; he just appeared in a blast of white light, like the geysers I saw once when I went on vacation to Yellowstone. He was a bit of an odd one though; he has a bit of a tendency for pointing out the obvious. And I mean the really obvious! Anyway, his name is Candlemon, and he's one of those Digmon from the show. He appeared in Frontier I think. I'm pretty amazed by how someone who's been associated with Digimon in real life could write a series so detached from it. Digimon Frontier is a bit of an odd series, and I'm surprised that that was the first idea for a series they came up with when T&M productions took over the show from the previous owners. I know that, when I heard about the court case when searching Digital Watch, a few of the Tamers were involved in arguing the case. Digital Monsters vs. Toei I think the case was called. Still, it's all in the past now, they won, and so when I was a kid, I grew up everyday watching this new series. And then they moved on to more traditional stuff, Digimon Data Squad I think they called it.

I digress though; you don't really want to hear about the TV show, when I know the real thing! When I got Candlemon that day, I was looking forward to adventures galore! The glamour! The girls! The getting-the-crap kicked outta ya!

But nothing happened. Seems there's a rule that everything that happens Digimon-wise happens in Japan. Well, Tokyo to be precise. I mean I did handle one or two bioemerges, brilliantly of course (as Candlemon insisted on pointing out afterwards). Okay, so I'm a bit boastful, who cares about that? Anyway, I knew that I wasn't going to get anywhere grounded down, at the age of sixteen, living with my folks in Denver. So, I wanted to go to Japan, to live there! Unfortunately, my parents wouldn't let me, "You have to finish your education" they say, "It's too expensive" they say, "We like America" they say. I mean, I'm not going to just run away from my folks, but they can be a pain at times.

Still, I managed to wean something out of them. A holiday! On my own!

Well, with Candlemon at least. Hoping I meet them! Maybe they'll let me join their group! Maybe I'm like, the Eleventh Angel!

This is going to be fun!

* * *

**29****TH**** AUGUST 2026**

"_**This is an announcement for passengers from the Japan Air flight from Beijing concerning their baggage. It is currently in Osaka. We apologize for the inconvenience caused," **_echoed an announcement through the terminal, following another identical announcement, although it was in Japanese.

"That's going to be annoying for them," chirped a voice from within a bag on the back of a boy with spiky black hair strolled across the terminal floor, pulling his case casually past hundreds of annoyed passengers, and at the same time being in awe at the terminal building surrounding him. Upon hearing the voice, he looked back to his backpack with rolled eyes.

"Well duh Obviousmon…"

"Sorry Boss."

"I've told you time and time again, just call me Zach. And why do you stay in the bag anyway, people are used to Digimon now. Particularly here of all places."

"It's fun!"

"I'll never understand you," Zach answered, rolling his eyes.

"I'm sure you will one day Boss. After all, no-one knows a Digimon better than their Tamer."

"Why am I worried that I'm the exception to that rule?" Zach answered, as he stepped through the doors of Narita International Airport into the open air of a Tokyo mid-afternoon. Aircraft noise resounded around the area, and a few cars passed by, as Zach breathed deeply. "Ah, smell that Japanese Air!"

"Isn't all air the same?"

"It's a figure of speech."

"Ah, one of those odd thingies. Where to boss?" Candlemon asked, in the process leaping out of his backpack onto the ground next to his Tamer. His form resembled a large candle with large dull red eyes, glistening in a liquid-like fashion. Two short wax arms extended from his wax-sides, ending in human-like hands. He was mounted on a golden stand, and on the top of his wick was an orange flame, itself having an inanimate DemiMeramon-like face. Unbeknownst to most except the most ardent of Digimon fans, this flame was actually his Digicore, risking death if it were to go out. He and Zach had thankfully never fallen anywhere near foul of this particularly flaw, although it was always a worry. Still, digital fires tended to be more resilient than real fires anyway.

Zach ruffled his hand through his long spiky black hair, as he glanced around the area with his pewter eyes, his black sweatshirt moving with his arms as he began to point, before pausing. "Well…" he muttered, as he looked around again, pondering whether others were noticing him in his odd attire, mostly black. His jeans were black, his boots were black, his sweatshirt was black, even his D-Arc on his belt was…emerald green. The whole device, except the screen, was emerald green. However, despite the boy's odd appearance, which was imposing to some (particularly given the stigma associated with the colours of regularly having bad moods, or being depressed), his Digimon knew he was a pretty optimistic guy. Who couldn't if they grin that much?

"_Okay, I'm surprised he's so cheerful after being turned down in his flirting so many times. Heh, good luck Zach! You'll find someone some day," _his partner thought, as he looked up once again to Zach. "You have no idea where to go, do you?" he asked, noticing Zach's continuing looks for any clue of what to do next. He was encountering problems, although some of the signs were bilingual, he was encountering difficulty figuring out how to get to Tokyo.

Zach sighed, his grin vanishing as he looked down to his partner. "Not a clue, and everyone here speaks Japanese…I only know the word for "idiot", and that's just thanks to a stupidly high intake of anime," he said with a sigh. "Maybe someone back in the terminal might be able to help us?"

"Hopefully," his partner answered.

* * *

Zach groaned as he leaned back in his seat, flexing his arms above his head as he stretched his arms. Candlemon sat in a seat opposite him, watching how Zach's expression had turned from one of grinning to one of exasperation over the course of the last hour of desperate searching for some method of transit into Tokyo itself. Now they were sat on a Maglev, as it sped through the Japanese countryside. The sun still hung in the sky, but Zach knew that he still wanted to do a lot of things during the remainder of that day. Heck, he hoped that he could meet one of the Tamers or Angels, particularly if he could get to Shinjuku Park.

"_Imagine that! A__ctually meeting one of the Angels! Ryder, or Kari! Or even, maybe the Gods, Chaos and Harmony! Maybe even Rey?! Oh, it'd be so cool to meet an Angel or Tamer of my own age."_

Candlemon rolled his eyes as he watched his Tamer's pewter orbs widen at the prospect. "I see you are imagining things again Boss."

"Of course I am! Geez, you sure love pointing out the blindingly obvious."

"I know I do. It appears you do too."

Zach groaned once again.

* * *

Zach stepped off the train onto the platform, Candlemon bouncing off after him, somehow hopping along on his base. Zach glanced along the train, seeing the hordes of people begrudgingly disembarking and heading down the subway, the toil of life continuing for them, in spite of the fact they lived near the epicentre of one of the biggest disaster zones the world had ever known.

"_Some people are just really opposed to moving I guess,"_ Zach thought as he and Candlemon walked down, passing through the ticket gates and out of the station's impressive brick-built façade, albeit modernized somewhat with glass structures in places. In particular, one end of the building looked like it had been replaced recently, the brick on it being far newer than the rest. Zach smiled, before frowning; the continuous battles in this city had a habit of damaging plenty of buildings. He couldn't help but wonder how much insurance premiums were here, in a place where "Acts of God" were actually a real thing.

It was strange seeing it for real, the huge tall buildings towering over the tiny shacks by comparison at their base. So many battles he'd seen on TV, in photos, in rare short mobile phone clips caught actually at the scene by the braver (or foolish) Digital Watch members before they decided to run like hell.

Zach smiled; Digital Watch was now an impressive website. He wondered occasionally whether Digital Watch knew more about the Angels and Tamers than they did themselves. Then again, the group still had many mysteries to them. Digital Watch couldn't possibly find out about their more intimate secrets, and there were some things that were simply not of interest anymore. Gone were the days when Digital Watch would desperately search for any kind of information regardless of value, examples of which were Rika's bra size and what toothpaste Kenta used. Now they were far more sophisticated, and he'd heard suggestions that 1 in 20 people on Earth was a Digital Watch member. Still, the figure was inflated somewhat by people changing their username at one point, but it was still an impressive figure. Digital Watch's subnet was now a valued resource, a network set up by Izumi Koushiro, better known to all as Izzy', in order to avoid government's greedy eyes. The world governments' knowledge on the Tamers and their eagerness for it was not always used by government officials alone. More sinister forces had utilized the systems in the past for their own gain, with terrible consequences. The subnet utilized the Digital World itself to transmit and store information, so in effect it was a network literally above the Digital World. Care had had to be taken to assure that it had no effect on those who lived there, but thankfully, it had no effect on the plane on which it floated above.

"Where to boss?" Candlemon asked.

"Where else? Shinjuku!" Zach answered.

"Eh? Why not Odaiba?" Candlemon asked.

"Whilst the Odaiba crew are interesting, we've more chance of finding anyone in Shinjuku. You know, the park and all."

Candlemon smiled slyly. "You just want to see Rey."

Zach turned slightly red. "That is not what I meant!" he insisted. "I meant, she is hot and all, but…" Zach hesitated, Candlemon filling in his own version in lieu.

"She's got a boyfriend," he said, finishing Zach's sentence. Zach nodded, grinning.

"Yeah, well I was going to say she'd kick my ass, but that's a far better reason."

"Well, of course. Maybe you should stop flirting with girls? It doesn't seem to work," Candlemon answered, not realising how frank he was being. As usual then.

"You really had to point out the obvious there, didn't you?" Zach asked sarcastically, shaking his head jokingly, before smiling and staring off into the distance, a dreamy look on his face. "I'm sure someone out there will one day appreciate my charm," he replied, snapping out of his trance and walking forward. He paused as he noticed that Candlemon wasn't following. He turned, looking to his partner with a curious eye.

"I thought we were taking the subway?" Candlemon asked.

"Nah, I want to see the city, not the inside of a tunnel!" Zach answered. "Now come on!" he said, continuing to walk along the pavement, heading into the crowd of people.

Candlemon moaned, hopping along as he followed. "But this is tiring, I don't have legs like you do…" he complained, his moans going mostly ignored.

* * *

Zach glanced around at another intersection, crossing the road as he continued in the rough direction of Shinjuku. At first he had been a bit lost, being an English-only speaker in a world that mixed Japanese, English and Engrish in together. The latter of those three he had found amusing, with signs stating extreme mistranslations of English being common in this city. It was only a few minutes earlier that they had passed a sign saying **Super Happy Emotions Gaming Temple**, pointing into what they eventually figured out to be an arcade. Still, once they saw a glimpse of the famous pair of towers of the Tokyo Metropolitan Building, they had got a bit more of a grip on the direction. Something was a bit off though every time they saw them, which was always through the occasional gap in buildings.

Stepping closer to Shinjuku however, it was clear that something odd was going on.

"Geez, this place even has freaky weather," Zach noted, a decent gap finally appearing in the tall buildings as they saw Shinjuku Park across the road. One thing he had noticed on his way here was how empty the place was. He had been sure that everywhere in Tokyo featured packed streets, people bustling to and fro, but right now people seemed to just be standing still staring up to the towers with curious glances. Zach and Candlemon stopped to look up.

"Well, that's why everyone's behaving so weirdly," Candlemon stated.

"Wow…you don't…see that any day…" Zach muttered, staring on in amazement at the towers from where he had stopped on the sidewalk. They looked same as they did in photos, but something very odd was around them. Thick black clouds were gathering around their tops, and sparks of electricity ran through them as they gradually spread downwards, beginning to envelop the whole structure. But this black wasn't like the dark grey of a thunderstorm; it was a deep black, a swirling blot obscuring the building.

"Zach, that looks like a sign of trouble. Shouldn't we be running?" Candlemon asked, nervously, Zach turning to him.

"And miss all the action? Hell no! America is always boring, whereas this is definitely going to be fun!"

"But those dark clouds around the Tokyo Metropolitan Building. Don't they look a bit…scary?"

Zach frowned, looking up once again to the towers, his determined gaze faltering.

"Yeah…I kinda see what you mean there…this looks pretty serious," he murmured, hearing concerned words from those around him.

"Mummy, what's up with those buildings?" a kid asked his mother, not knowing the history of the area, as he pulled on her trouser leg eagerly.

"I'm not sure honey, just…stay close, okay?" she asked in response, the kid smiling innocently and nodding.

"What's it this time?" a businessman groaned, tightly gripping onto his black briefcase. "I should really move, I've heard Kyoto's nice…why do all the good companies have to be located here?"

"Still, think on the bright side…we're going to be in the middle of it all! Finally, some real action!" Zach cheered to his partner, pumping a fist happily.

"Erm…whatever you say boss," Candlemon replied nervously. Something felt really wrong about those towers.

"You could at least sound remotely…"

Zach was silenced as a pair of huge bolts of lightning, one blue, one red, streaked down the two Towers, a deep resonant rumble beginning as the ground shook violently, knocking Candlemon to the ground, and Zach to be forced to grip onto a nearby lamppost to avoid toppling over like the candle-like Digimon.

Zach looked around in surprise to the other people either having fallen over from the sudden quake or similarly gripping onto a nearby structure. He looked down to his partner in shock. "What was that?!" he asked, before looking again with wide eyes up at the towers. A pulsing had begun within the black cloud, as it expanded and contracted, growing larger each time as the ground rumbled.

"Okay, I have to point out that this is getting kinda scary," Candlemon noted. "Maybe time to, you know, digivolve?"

Suddenly, a beam shot upwards, penetrating the sky, as it ripped open in a deep flash, a great scar opening across it was Zach stared on in a mix of awe and fear.

"Is this…Juggernaut?" he asked, but his voice was drowned out as a catastrophic roar was cast through the air, the sear changing into a large circle, and the lines within it ripping apart, warping and being bent all over.

"It does resemble Juggernaut."

"Yeah, but it's like a million times more powerful," Zach noted, lifting a card to near his D-Arc, before pausing. The sound of static reached his ears from a nearby source, and he looked to the towers again, before noticing the sound was coming from somewhere else. "Huh?" he pondered, glancing around to people curiously looking at their cell phones and media players, before a nearby television screen cackled into life. Oddly, however, no picture was displayed, merely audio emanating from the speakers instead, sounding like they were being tuned. But for what?

A voice began to speak from them, answering Zach's question. _**"Citizens of Earth and the Digital World," **_it began, the voice sounding male, but so distorted that Zach couldn't be sure if it was even human. _**"For countless years, as I have grown and matured from a young child. I have watched these realms, both of reality and of data, take great leaps and bounds in stupidity and arrogance. Bumbling fools run everything, badly and incompetently, and I have decided that freedom has not done anything for you pathetic, puny ants. Instead, I have a vision of a far better Earth and Digital World than the horrid disgusting world that exists at the moment. I dream of a new world where great things are accomplished, and where things are done right. Perfectly, you may say to be precise."**_

Zach glanced to his partner nervously, not sure what this voice was talking about. What did it mean, a new world? Was this some kind of evil guy? He didn't sound like most evil guys, most evil guys just wanted to destroy stuff, or at least, that was the impression that Zach had got from Saturday morning TV.

"_**So, I have decided to make my vision a reality. Perfection will begin from now!" **_the voice exclaimed, a deep pride lodged in it. It chuckled, before continuing the message. _**"Ladies, Gentlemen, Digmon…I am your new ruler! All will bow down to me or face death! And don't hold out hope for your little Angels, your little Tamers, your scrawny little Chaos and helpless little Harmony to help, because I currently have all risks to me incapacitated, permanently! I have created a new creature, well, saying a' is a huge understatement. More like a billion, maybe even two, or perhaps as many as I wish. This creature, a Digimon in fact, is called Artmon, and it is truly your worse nightmare. To demonstrate…one tenth of the population of the real and digital worlds will be slaughtered, including all Tamers, Angels and other such nuisances," **_it continued, before it finished with a sadistic tone. _**"This is when the world ends. Have a nice day!"**_

"What?!" Zach and Candlemon exclaimed, horrified by what the device was saying. Surely this was all just a joke? It had to be! The Angels, incapacitated? An evil guy, with a billion or two Digimon he called their worse nightmare? Who somehow was able to access and use technology that didn't even have a receiver on it? This couldn't be true!

"_**ARTMON! ATTACK!" **_the voice declared, confirming Zach's fears.

A deathly silence fell, small screams audible in the distance. The entire world seemed to be either silently contemplating, or screaming in horror. Those around Zach were mostly doing the former, but quickly moved into the latter, as out of the cloud, flew an uncountable number of small, black rounded cubes. They flew out in every direction, down to the city below, up to the Digital World, and spread across the sky, heading in every conceivable direction…claiming the whole world as their own.

Zach and Candlemon watched open mouthed and in horror, amazed by how quickly their vacation had turned sour. Zach watched them zoom over their heads in streams, surging quickly as they filled the air, more still coming from the cloud. Zach turned to Candlemon, gripping his card and emerald D-Arc tightly as he prepared to sweep one through the other.

"DIGI-MODIFY…Digivolut…" he began, suddenly stopping as the D-Arc and card fell out of his hands, the form of Candlemon crashing into him as the pair were thrown to the ground. The D-Arc landed near Zach's foot, the boy wasting no time in sitting up and grabbing it, hearing the ear-piercing screams around him as people were slaughtered on the spot.

Zach felt sick as he watched the child from earlier, his limp form collapsing to the ground. Dead.

Candlemon sat up, feeling sore and hurt as he nursed the injury from where the Artmon had blasted him, seemingly out of nowhere, using a cannon on one side of its form.

"Candlemon, you…" Zach began, pushing himself to his feet.

"GET DOWN!" screamed a female voice, pushing him to the ground quickly.

"BLAST RINGS!" screamed a deep masculine voice above, Zach catching a blur of red and white as he fell to the ground.

Suddenly, the cocking of a blaster and the firing of a laser reached his ears, a bird-like squawk and scream reaching his ears, painfully, as he clenched his eyes tightly, hearing a deep resonant boom.

"AQUILLAMON!" screamed the girl, Zach opening his eyes to see her, quickly getting to her feet where she stood, her deep blue hair twisting across her shoulders as she looked to the sky, a look of total horror splayed across her face.

Zach turned, to see data floating, an Artmon bursting into data soon after. The girl's navy D-Arc, on her belt, displayed only one thing.

Static.

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

Just in case it wasn't clear enough from the chapter, this girl isn't Yolei, nor a daughter of Yolei or any character we've seen before. Right, now that's cleared up nicely, I'd like to know what you thought. I had the action happen far more suddenly this time round, and that is going to have serious consequences. Although most of this chapter was similar, it's going to take a huge tangent from the old story from here on out, with one or two minor similarities.

Until next time…


	2. Asuka Kumiko

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the OCs in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise). Zach Strafer is the property of Fireblast123.

Thanks to Crazyeight for beta reading this chapter.

Right, from now on it's all new, so enjoy!

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

**Stratagems**

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

_**CHAPTER 2**_

_Asuka Kumiko_

* * *

"AQUILLAMON! NO! NO!" the girl screamed, Zach not moving as he stared at her, her eyes brimming with tears as she stared into thin air, her partner rapidly dissimilating into nothing. The Artmon showed neither sympathy nor celebration for his victory, instead turning his weapon on the navy haired girl, her hair running down to just near her shoulders. She was far too busy crying from her reddish eyes to even consider the peril she was now facing. Her partner was dead. Hawkmon was dead. This couldn't be happening. This wasn't supposed to happen! It was wrong!

"Move!" Zach yelled, the girl snapping to reality to see the Artmon priming its cannon. Zach rapidly turned, not wanting another person to die. _"Particularly since I haven't been able to tell her how attractive she…"_

The girl screamed, the pealing sound bringing Zach back to reality as he realised it was the wrong time to be thinking about that. He grasped a card quickly in his hand, sweeping it through his D-Arc.

"DIGI-MODIFY…Power Activate!" he called, glancing at the card quickly for its name. Candlemon grinned, sending a large flaming rock flying towards the Artmon.

"FLAME BOMBER!"

The Artmon turned, noticing the projectile but being too late to stop it, as it exploded over its form, turning it into specks of data which Candlemon quickly absorbed into his form, before turning to his partner, now crouching over the girl, who was now in the foetal position, what had just happened being too much to bear for her.

"Zach, help me out here!" he asked, but was ignored for the time being. Rounded square shadows continued to flow along the street, paired with the Artmon above.

Zach looked down to the girl, putting his hand carefully on her shoulder as he tried to get her attention.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his usually jokey voice now containing mere concern. This girl had just lost her partner, and Zach couldn't possibly conceive that happening to him and Candlemon. How on earth would he cope without his partner, obsessed with pointing out the obvious as he was?

"No," she mumbled in her sobs, not even looking up.

"Oh," Zach answered, not sure how to console a girl he didn't even know the name of. He reached down to her hand, hoping he could help her up. "Come on, we've got to…" he began.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" she screamed, swatting his hand away, to his surprise, before concern manifested on his face again.

"We've got to move!" he repeated, this time not trying to help.

"This isn't happening!" she insisted. "It can't be happening! Not Aquilamon! He said we'd be partners forever. He can't die!" she said, looking Zach in the eye.

"Zach, look out!" Candlemon yelled, as a gun cocked overhead.

Zach didn't pause; he ploughed into the girl, pushing her and him over onto the ground as the laser blast collided with the sidewalk behind them, dust rising into the air.

"FLAME BOMBER!"

An explosion behind them signalled the end of that particular Artmon, further dust kicked into the air. Zach coughed up the dust, looking around him at the further Artmon descending.

Zach suddenly felt a sharp pain in his arm, causing him to leap aside before he turned to quickly look for the source, fearing the worst. Unfortunately, all he saw was a disgruntled girl rubbing her arm irritated.

"You were lying on my arm!" she explained, breaking her tears periodically as she pushed herself to her feet, before Zach did likewise and quickly began arguing his case, rubbing his arm to numb the similar pain he now had.

"Not my fault!" Zach argued, his hands out defensively, but then realised this wasn't exactly the time for arguing about things like that. The girl seemed to now be entranced, staring at the hordes of Artmon flying above, and the few that came down towards them on the street.

"This…this isn't real…please tell me this isn't real!" she insisted, looking across to Zach, who didn't answer, simply looking into her eyes nervously. _"How can I tell her it's real?! Even I can't believe this is happening! This isn't the kind of stuff that really happens. This can't be real life! In real life, you don't have a mysterious voice telling us that he is now our overlord! In real life, you don't have billions of boxy Digimon wiping out people indiscriminately! In real life, you don't literally bump into a rather attractive g...not the time!"_

The girl sighed, before glancing to his arm, still being rubbed by his other arm, as she remembered what she had done and how she had reacted to what was merely an accident. Albeit, it was one that had probably saved her life.

"Sorry," she muttered. "Thanks for saving me," she added.

"Same," Zach replied, grinning. "And it's nice to be saved by such an at…"

"ZACH, THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR FLIRTING!" Candlemon yelled. "SWIPE A BLOODY CARD!" he added, yelling at his Tamer angrily, attracting the pair's attention.

Zach nodded, determination flaring on his face once again. He pulled forth a card from his deck, which rapidly changed into a blue card. _"I really don't want to go ultimate, but we're going to need all the power we can get."_

The girl sighed, frowning at the sight of Zach's emerald D-Arc and the cards. _"Hawkmon…" _she sadly thought.

"DIGI-MODIFY…Matrix Digivolution Activate!" Zach called, swiping the card.

**M-A-T-R-I-X**

**D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N**

**Candlemon Matrix Digivolve to…**

**Mummymon!**

The wizard was replaced by a tall humanoid form (except for his massive claw-like hands), bandaged from head to toe. A large blaster was held in his right arm, complimented by ammo and straps around him. He had a sadistic smirk on his grisly face, as he raised his gun, named Obelisk.

"_I hate him when he's like this," _Zach thought sadly, the girl noting the frown on his face.

"NECROPHOBIA!"

A blast of energy collided with one Artmon, wiping it from existence, before being turned rapidly onto another. The data, instead of being absorbed by Mummymon, was instead absorbed quickly by the other Artmon, quicker than Mummymon could intervene.

He hardly cared though, merely taking down Artmon after Artmon, not even taking his finger off the button.

"Mummymon, please don't get wrapped up in this again!" Zach pleaded. _"How can he enjoy this so much?"_ he thought. The first time he had used this form, against an Okuwamon, he had been deeply disturbed by Mummymon's sadistic enjoyment of his battles, and had decided there and then to avoid the form wherever possible. Then again, Wizardmon was also boastful, although thankfully not so foolish during battles. Zach was consistently amazed by his partner's personality changes in his various forms.

Mummymon simply laughed demonically, causing the girl to shudder at the sound, before falling against the wall, slumping down sadly. Zach frowned, turning to her and crouching down again.

"Come on, please don't do this again!" he panicked, before heading the clicking of an empty gun. He turned, looking nervously to his partner, who had used his blaster for so long apparently that his gun had malfunctioned.

"What's up?" he asked, Mummymon glancing at his gun, seemingly out of power.

"GIVE ME MORE POWERRRRR!" he commanded.

"Mummymon, we've got to…"

"NOW!" Mummymon yelled. Zach sighed, he really didn't want to encourage his partner, but he didn't have a choice right now, as further Artmon drew in for the kill, seeing a now vulnerable trio of targets to be destroyed.

"DIGI-MODIFY…Recharge Activate!" Zach called, sweeping another card through his D-Arc. Mummymon laughed, not even thanking his partner as his gun was fixed by data swarming onto it.

"NECROPHOBIA!"

The Artmon didn't even scream, as they were vaporised by a newly recharged blaster. Zach sighed, turning to face the girl once again, hoping he could coax her out of her trauma again. She seemed to simply be staring at the navy D-Arc in her outstretched hand now, entranced by the static dancing across its display, signifying that it no longer had a purpose.

"Please…err…whatever your name is, we've got to move!" Zach pleaded, reaching down and grabbing her arm, the girl lacking a reaction this time as she continued to stare at her D-Arc, a look of resignation on her face.

Zach, making a decision, yanked her arm upwards, pulling her slightly to her feet as he began to drag her along, thankful that the girl was still subconsciously making walking movements. He paused, turning to his berserk partner.

"Mummymon, now, we've got to move!" he commanded.

"But this is fun!" Mummymon cheered, dispatching yet more Artmon.

"NOW!" Zach yelled, catching Mummymon's attention as he stopped firing, looking to his partner as a child would look to a parent when he was reluctantly admitting to a wrongdoing.

"You didn't have to yell, you know," he noted. Zach growled, before pointing to the girl he had a tight grip on one hand of.

"Help me out," he asked, Mummymon reluctantly taking the girl's other hand, which quickly tightened around her D-Arc. Her eyes were still transfixed on its screen, as Mummymon began to hold his blaster in his free hand, firing at a few nearby Artmon. "Not now!" Zach scolded. _"I wish he'd listen to me!" _he thought, as they began to practically drag the girl towards the nearest cover, the trees and grass of the park nearby.

"Oh Aquilamon…" the girl murmured as they crossed the empty road, Mummymon still attacking despite Zach's orders. At least it was keeping the Artmon at a distance, although it was clear that was simply because Mummymon was dispatching them too quickly, and not because of a fear of death. These Artmon seemed to be little more than robots.

"Please," Zach asked, turning to the girl as he tried to snap her out of it. "I know you've lost your partner, but we've got to move, and you're not helping," he replied, not wanting to sound like he was complaining, but inevitably doing so.

"Not worth it," the girl muttered.

"I'm not leaving you there to die! I saw all those people die, I can't let you die too!" he summarised, as they came under the canopy of the trees, thankful for the brief respite in Artmon activity.

They paused, Zach bending down to the girl who landed on her knees.

"Are you alright?" he asked, the girl shaking her head sadly, her deep blue hair twisting with it, contrasting with her sore red eyes from the tears. "I'm sorry, but we've got to move…please," he asked, the girl glancing to him as she leaned on him, pushing herself to her feet.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"Aha, more!" Mummymon laughed, holding up his gun again. "NECROPHOBIA!" he roared, dispatching some Artmon that had begun to pursue them.

"Mummymon, dedigivolve, now!" Zach ordered, making a decision.

"Oh, but why? I'm having such fun!" Mummymon answered sadistically.

"That's an order!" Zach commanded, Mummymon frowning sadly. "You're just attracting more attention for us, we've got to keep quiet and low," he explained. Mummymon sighed, his body glowing as it was replaced by Candlemon once again.

Zach breathed a sigh of relief, turning to the girl who looked at how he and his partner were interacting with a curious eye. "Why does he act like that?" she asked, having never seen a Digimon be so disrespectful towards their owner before. Indeed, the most unruly Digimon usually got was when they first acquired a higher form, but she could tell this was certainly not the first time.

"I wish I knew," Zach answered, quickly moving onto more pressing business. "Do you have anywhere we can hide out?" he asked, looking nervously about the park, hoping not to see a silhouette of a rounded box through the trees. That was the last thing they needed right now.

The girl frowned, shaking her head. "No," she answered. "I live on the other side of the city…" she began, before stopping mid-speech, a gasp reaching her lips. "My parents!" she panicked, gripping her hand to her mouth, as she turned, beginning to run. Zach quickly gripped her wrist, stopping her. "Let me go!" she pleaded, tears once again reaching her eyes.

"You'll get killed out there!" Zach warned, astonished at how this girl seemed to be completely out of it. Wasn't she aware of the danger? Then again, Zach was pretty sure that losing your partner would leave one in a rather hazy state, particularly given the traumatic way this girl had reacted to it.

"I don't care, I have to make sure they're okay!" she replied bluntly, Zach simply tightening his grip. "Let me…" she began, but Zach sighted the one thing he didn't want to, passing nearby. Quickly, and not pausing to worry about whether it would hurt her or not, he put his hand over her mouth, gripping her tightly.

The electronic sound of an Artmon passing overhead reached his ears, along with the mumblings of the girl, screaming into his hand.

"Be quiet," he asserted softly. "They'll hear us…" he added, being thankful when the girl stopped struggling.

Both humans and the Digimon breathed a sigh of relief once the Artmon was out of sight, Zach gently removing his hand from the girl's mouth.

"Sorry about that, but you were going to get us killed," he apologised. The girl simply looked stunned, amazed that this was all going on. "We have to stay silent, it's too dangerous!"

"But what about my parents?" she pleaded, her voice laden with emotion.

"I'm sorry, but we can't go to find them," he answered.

"What do you mean, we can't go to find them?" she asked, horrified by such a suggestion. "I'm not leaving them!" she added.

"Girl, my parents are out there too, and I want them to be alright. But they are halfway around the world from us, and I just have to hope they're okay."

"But my parents are in _this_ city, I have to go help them!" she insisted.

"He said he was decimating them. That means one in ten of the population, they may still be alive!" Zach suggested. "But we can't risk ourselves in going to find them," he added, his advice not suiting the panicky manner in which it was given.

The girl frowned, sighing. "I just want to go home," she murmured, Zach nodding.

"Yeah, I kinda guessed that," he said, not particularly in the way that would reassure her. She began to stare at the ground, pondering how on earth this could be real. Their entire planet, for god sakes!

Zach frowned, this girl was taking it all really badly, and he couldn't blame her. Only now was the reality beginning to truly dawn on him. His parents could already be dead, and he wasn't even there to save them. That was what Tamers were meant to do, to save those they loved, and here he was, so far from them that he didn't have an ice-cube's chance in hell of saving them!

Still, Zach was cool-headed enough to know that didn't change the present. He, and this moderately attractive girl he still hadn't learnt the name of, along with his Digimon partner, had to get to shelter as soon as possible.

He glanced around, pondering where they could be. His knowledge of Shinjuku wasn't all that good, but he knew enough to know this could only be one place.

"_The park! Brilliant!" _he thought. _"Which means I know just where to shelter!"_

He put out his hand reassuringly, the girl looking to him stunned, glancing to his hand before back up into his eyes.

"Come on, I know where we can hide," he prompted. _"How long does this chick take to do the simplest of things?! What, does she think by taking my hand she's agreeing to love me forever or something? Geez, she really needs to cut the dramatics."_

Finally, she gripped his hand in return, as he turned, pulling her with him as they begun to head to where Zach presumed their destination would be. "Thanks," she muttered.

"No problem, I know a place around here. Well, not personally, but I saw it on Digital Watch," Zach commented.

"That's a website, on the internet," chirped in Zach's partner, Candlemon, from where he walked beside them.

"Uh, yeah, thanks for that Obviousmon, but I think she probably knew that already," Zach said to his partner, using the usual nickname.

"Are all your partner's levels really weird?" the girl asked, raising an eyebrow at the boy.

"Babe, you don't know the half of it," Zach answered, grinning.

"Uh…huh," the girl answered, glancing down to where Zach still gripped her hand. "Uh, two things…one, stop calling me strange derogatory nicknames, and two, when are you going to stop holding my hand?" she asked curiously.

Zach let go, grinning all the while. "Sorry, thought you liked both of those things," he answered.

"When was the last time you talked to an _actual_ girl?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him as a small smile crept onto her face.

"Uh…"

"And I'm willing to bet you've never had a girlfriend either?" she joked, at his expense.

"Uh, yeah, you're right there," he answered, nervous about his "truth" being exposed, and glancing forward in the hope the hideout was near by now. That could put an end to this conversation, for sure. Unfortunately for Zach, it was still out of sight. He hoped they were going the right way.

"And I'm assuring you that that is going to stay the status quo for a while, because you're not my type. I mean, what are you, some kind of Goth?" she asked, glancing him and his weird outfit up and down.

"Hey, I just like black, okay girl?" Zach defended.

"And again with the names, just use my real name for god's sake!" the girl argued, exasperated by this kid's attitude.

"Uh…" Zach pondered, not sure exactly how to phrase his question. "I'm not sure exactly how to phrase this but…" he began, looking to her again nervously, she staring curiously back. "What is your name?" he asked.

"Oh, right…Asuka Kumiko," she introduced herself.

"Zach Strafer, at your service," he said likewise.

"American, are we?" she asked, noting his accent, and silently being glad this conversation was taking her mind off things.

"Yeah," he answered.

"And yet you for some reason greet me as if you are a Brit from an old movie, what's up with that?" she asked.

"Every girl loves a charismatic British dude," Zach answered.

"And you are neither," she asserted.

Candlemon quietly chuckled at this until Zach shot him a glare. Candlemon was always amused by Zach's unsuccessful, to say the least, flirting attempts. Zach, whilst having good intentions, didn't seem to understand that most of the girl's he talked to were less than impressed by how he acted. _"You'd think he'd have got the idea by now," _Candlemon mused.

Zach turned to notice Asuka smiling at the amusing sight, before coughing to mask it, something that didn't go unnoticed by Zach. Pushing it aside for now, he asked a question that had been on his mind for a while. "So, what's with the perfect English?" he asked.

"Unlike most Yanks and Anglophones, we Japanese at least make an attempt to learn someone else's language. I mean, seriously, what can you say in Japanese?" she asked.

"Baka?" he suggested.

"You really don't know how to flirt if you just called the object of your affections an idiot."

Zach sighed, this girl seemed to be far more resistive than he expected to his approaches. It was a shame; earlier on she seemed so much more frail and fragile. Zach pondered that it was strange what a few tears could do to a person's image. Well, a few tears was a bit of an understatement.

"Is that it?" she asked, Zach looking to her. Was she taunting him for failing?

"No, I've got plenty more where that came from!" he cheered, grinning.

Asuka groaned in annoyance. "Baka, look over there for god's sake!" she said, emphasising the finger she was pointing out in front of her with.

"Oh, right," Zach realised, laughing embarrassedly about his mistake. He looked to where she was pointing, a greyish, crumbling structure at the end of some worn concrete blocks that constituted steps. "Yeah, that looks like it," he noted, walking forward and up the steps, eager to see that which he had only seen previously in pictures. Stepping into the building itself, he glanced around happily, not sure where to look first.

"This is where those Angel guys hang out, right?" she asked, from where she stood outside with Candlemon, watching his behaviour amusingly.

"Yeah, this place has more history than that bacon roll at the back of my fridge!" Zach said joyfully.

"Oh, I ate that," Candlemon noted. "Was that a mistake?"

Asuka groaned at the antics of the pair of them, walking forwards into the hideout, glancing around curiously at the inside of the structure, her look changing quickly to disdain as she noticed the dirty floor, the huge hole in the wall, and the general dilapidated state of it all. "Is this really a good place?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she addressed Zach.

"Yeah, this place is great," Zach cheered, sitting down against one wall.

"If you say so," Asuka sighed, sitting down against the opposite wall, Candlemon quickly joining them inside. Asuka glanced around, sighing once again at where she had ended up, on a day that had seemed to start out well as well. "God, this is depressing," she vocalised.

"I don't know, it could be worse," Zach commented.

"How could this be worse?" she yelled at him.

"There, go!" they heard a stern voice command, footsteps rapidly approaching, and guns cocking, the three of them turning nervously to look upon a squad of soldiers, guns primed and aiming at them.

"Me and my big fat mouth," Zach sighed.

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

Ah, I love my characters at times. Some great interaction between Zach and Asuka here, and I still can't believe that I didn't even call her by her name until near the end. Certainly took some masterful writing, yet displaying the chaos that descends over them.

Anyhow, this is beginning to take a different course to the original. The next chapter will have a similar-ish scene to the original, but other than that, most of this is all new! Hopefully you're enjoying it so far, although I do question how much enjoyment can be gained from a fic where a main character's partner is destroyed almost as soon as the Tamer is introduced.

Until next time…


	3. Haru Kaede

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the OCs in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise). Zach Strafer is the property of Fireblast123.

Thanks to Crazyeight for beta reading this chapter.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

**Stratagems**

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

_**CHAPTER 3**_

_Haru Kaede_

* * *

"Um…please don't kill us," Zach said nervously, staring into the barrels of the guns.

"My Tamer is pleading for his life," Candlemon pointed out.

"Can it, Obviousmon!" Asuka complained.

"I am Squad Commander Haru Kaede. Are you kids okay?" asked the commanding voice from before, one of the soldiers raising his visor to talk clearly and to reassure them. While Asuka nodded, Zach noticed how heavily armoured the solider was. Indeed, they all seemed to be wearing far more armour than most soldiers did. And he was pretty sure that most soldiers didn't have the word SLEGNA printed across their uniform in large white letters.

"_Hold on, SLEGNA? That means…" _"I know you guys, you're SLEGNA!"

The commander sighed. "A Digital Watch member, are you?" he asked, an exasperated tone joining his voice. Zach grinned, nodding. "Forever our bane, aren't you? And to think, SLEGNA was started up as a secret organisation."

"Well duh, everyone on Digital Watch has heard of you! You're hardly a secret organisation! I mean, you guys are kinda to blame for being noticed, given the high profile identity of your leader!"

The man frowned as he recalled the frantic past few hours of his work. Zach's grin narrowed as he noticed the man's expression change, before Haru spoke in a dour tone. "I'm afraid he has been lost, and our organisation is now wiped out. SLEGNA is no more."

"No way!" Zach exclaimed, standing up. "Lost?!" he asked, amazed that such a thing could happen, particularly considering who they were talking about.

"I'm afraid so, yes," Haru replied, frowning and nodding as a questioning glance passed between himself and the teenager.

Zach frowned, the reality of the situation becoming clear, something which had become a familiar feeling in the last ten minutes. Their reality was in flux, and people were dying all over the show. _"This is getting pretty depressing," _he thought, his glanced falling to the ground.

"Come, we're trying to find survivors, they've attacked most people in Shinjuku. I don't think this guy wants anyone near the base," Haru suggested, putting out a hand to suggest these teenagers and their Digimon come with.

"Where are you going to take us?" Asuka asked, eyebrows rising. She had a nagging curiosity about where on earth they would be safe in a situation like the one they had found themselves in. _"Those Artmon things could find us anywhere…nowhere is safe!"_

"We will find a place for you to shelter before we can get you clear of the city," Haru replied, Asuka pondering whether there really would be anywhere safe. Even if they found a place, how long would it be until they were found, and promptly eliminated? For all their time-wasting with their true enemies, evil guys did seem to have no problem efficiently taking out the huddled masses.

Or at least, that was the impression that Asuka had gotten from practically every TV show ever made.

"Please, what are your names?" he requested, as Asuka stood up, showing her deep blue top, broken only for a line of midriff, and pale grey skirt, a now permanently-disabled D-Arc tucked into it.

"Asuka Kumiko," she stated.

"Zach Strafer," he stated.

"Candlemon…uh…Candlemon," the digimon concluded, a dumb grin on his face.

Haru gestured for them to follow, as his squad of seven, plus himself, turned, prepared to move out, guns cocked once again in readiness for dealing with whatever would attack them. As they began to follow the soldiers, Asuka whispered to the boy with her.

"Do they really think bullets will take those Artmon down?" she asked, concern lodged in her voice. Without a partner, she'd become useless, and, thanks to the most powerful form of Zach's partner being a sadistic idiot, it was clear they would be pretty much defenceless should they be attacked.

"I think they'll be prepared for that, this is kind of their job," Zach noted. "Special Legislative Executive Guard of Normals and Angels," he elaborated. "Equipped for the task, right down to their guns," he concluded.

"I sure hope so," she replied. "Oh, by the way, I never asked, how old _are_ you?" she added, looking to him curiously.

"Sixteen," he answered.

"And how many months?" she pressed.

"Two," he answered again.

"Good, so I'm eight months older than you, kid," she summarized. Zach began to feel this situation was rather familiar to something from one of T&M Productions' Digimon TV series he had watched as a kid.

"Hey, that's no fair!" he complained, ignoring his nagging familiarity. "I'm not a kid!"

"You look pretty childish to me."

"Hello?! You were crying ten minutes ago at Aquilamon's death, whatever happened to…"

Asuka frowned quickly, a sign for Zach to stop, as he noted her still-reddened eyes from her earlier tears.

"Sorry," he muttered uncomfortably, realizing that he had touched on a far too sensitive point.

"That's okay," she answered, her voice emotional again. "If it helps, you're a pretty good distraction from reality," she joked sadly.

"Thanks, I guess. At least I'm useful for something."

* * *

"You have got to be kidding," Zach exclaimed, seeing another feature of hundreds of photographs. An ornate gate stood in front of them, part of a long wall, keeping out intruders from the well-known property within.

"The residence of the Nonaka's, men, so show some respect to what was someone's hope and hopefully will be again," Haru ordered, turning to his troops.

"So, what's so special about this place? None of the Tamers have lived here for years." Asuka asked, raising an eyebrow at her companion, who was grinning wider than ever, a rather disconcerting sight.

"Yeah, but this is still where the Nonaka's live! And in the past, everything would always happen here!" he said enthusiastically. "And I mean everything!"

"Zach is being very enthusiastic," Candlemon pointed out, before being ignored by the two teenagers. Both the grinning Tamer and his irritating partner had begun to annoy Asuka already, and she'd only known them for less than an hour. Zach noticed the soldiers carefully opening the gate, trying to avoid any damage to it while still breaking into the home. Clearly, law and order were now a thing of the past.

"You see, Digital Watch always hated this place thanks to its high walls. We could never find out what was going on," Zach explained. "Think; we're going to get the rare opportunity to see the inside."

"Yeah, lucky us eh?" Asuka said sarcastically, rolling her eyes as she heard the clunking and squeaking noise of a lock being busted and a gate swinging open. Zach seemed to be one of those die-hard Digital Watch fanboys that Asuka had always considered to be just plain weird, even if most people had at least glanced at the site at one time or another. Zach was the kind of person who would have the main articles memorised, and who spent every free hour waiting for another update on life in Japan, whilst updating the fact-files and spending hours on the discussion forums. Asuka was surprised Zach hadn't descended into using short forms like A1, Mtsks and Bdnmn yet. She had pondered many a time why they needed to abbreviate even the shortest of words.

"In here," Haru ordered to his men, before gesturing to show he meant the same order to the two teenagers and the Digimon standing watching the display of military discipline, even in the worst of times. Zach nodded, breathing in deeply and savouring the moment as he stepped inside, whilst Asuka simply stepped through the door.

Zach felt a sense of anticlimax when he saw what was pretty much an ordinary house, albeit a traditionally styled one.

"Hey, what gives?" he complained. "This place was meant to be fantastic!" he added. "It almost looks ordinary now," he finished.

Asuka rolled her eyes, grinning lightly as she walked past him, stepping past the now-opened front door into the inside of the house, pausing to grasp the sheer size of the main room she entered into.

"Wow, I never had a place this big when I was a kid," she gasped.

"Yeah, Rumiko Nonaka is a rather wealthy woman. She was even before she entered the spotlight as the mother of Rika," Zach noted.

Asuka nodded, as the door was closed by a solider behind them. "Yeah, I know. Makino, as she was known, was a regular in the magazines I read as a kid, until she stopped modelling, that is."

Haru coughed, commanding the attention of all in the main room of the house, all the soldiers standing to attention while the teenagers laxly cast their eyes to face their senior.

"Operatives 2945, 2456, 4293 and 5638 will move out to search for more people sheltering, stay as a group. 2397, 6482 and 7694 will stay here with me to safeguard this place and promote it to anyone nearby needing help. Good luck men."

"Roger that," came the various replies, as four soldiers proceeded to leave, whilst the remaining three others headed away into the grounds of the house. Haru, seeing his commands were being carried out, turned to the teenagers now in his care.

"This isn't my normal squad," he noted, frowning as he fully removed his black, heavily armored helmet, placing it on a table nearby. "I have been forced to become their leader after our base was lost, I am the most senior of us all," he added.

"Right," Zach answered. "So what do we do?"

"I'm afraid you'll have to find ways to occupy yourselves. Please refrain from eating everything in the kitchen, we may need those supplies for a while," Haru answered. Zach and Candlemon frowned, moaning.

"Oh, that's my plans gone," Candlemon complained, Haru chuckling at the sight.

Asuka frowned, looking sadly over the other three beings in the room with her. _"How did we get here?" _she pondered. _"Poor Aquilamon,"_ she added, remembering her partner.

She sighed, turning and heading away down a nearby hallway, the others watching her with concern.

"Is she going to be alright?" Haru asked Zach, who grinned, although it was a sour grin, thanks to the circumstances.

"Yeah, she just lost her partner earlier, that's all," Zach answered.

"Oh," Haru answered, not sure how to react to such a thing. He had seen people with Digimon, of course, since most of the top members of their organization were Tamers, but he had never been able to properly meet one before. He had heard of the bond between a Digimon and their Tamer, but he had never considered what would happen if a Digimon partner were to die. Nonetheless, it wasn't his place to pry; he had far more important affairs to attend to at the present moment.

* * *

Asuka gently pushed the sliding door to one side, stepping out into the unfitting sunlight outside, taking a careful glance to the sky first to ensure she wasn't about to become the victim of an Artmon attack. She didn't want to go the same way as her partner had, indeed, she didn't want to die at all. It wasn't what Hawkmon would have wanted.

Hawkmon had sworn he'd protect her to the death. Those words seemed to mean far less now that promise had become a reality.

Asuka frowned, falling softly onto the grass of the garden, near the pond, before rolling over onto her back, staring up at the bright blue sky.

"Stupid reality," she complained, sighing and closing her eyes.

The image of a laser blast going straight through Aquilamon's neck forced her to reopen them sadly.

"No," she muttered, affirming that she wasn't going to keep visualizing the tragedy again and again. It was worse enough the first time round, yet alone remembering it. Her eyes gently slipped closed again, aided by the wind.

Laser slicing through data, ripping through Aquilamon's…

Her eyes snapped open again, as she screamed quietly in annoyance, feeling intense emotions flood to her again. But she knew she couldn't scream, that'd get Zach to come see what was going on, or something worse than Zach that would very likely kill her mercilessly and emotionlessly. She felt her eyes water, tears welling up in them before they began to trickle down her reddened cheeks, the pace increasing to be faster and faster, before they practically poured out.

Her partner, dead. Her parents, probably dead. And she knew she'd be next. It was inevitable.

It was how the sick twisted joke that was life worked.

Today had only reaffirmed her suspicions that the world was controlled by some sadistic bastard in the sky somewhere, or some moronic kid with a magnifying glass and a bright day.

She reached down to her skirt, pulling from it a clip that held her D-Arc, which she outstretched in her hand, staring at the static screen. More tears continued to fall, gently splashing onto the grass and soil beneath her. She, in a desperate hope that all was not as it seemed, summoned up the holographic screen on the device, but to no avail. Nothing changed. Still static.

Forever static.

Angered, she tossed the device to the ground nearby, pausing only to wonder whether she'd retrieve it later. If she did, it'd be only out of sentiment: the device was now irrelevant to her. That part of her life was over, and would never return. She was no longer a Tamer; she had joined the exclusive club of ex-Tamers, a club that no-one ever wanted to join. And she knew that from this hour alone, that club would've gained several dozen members if not more.

What was worst of all was how useless she felt. Even if Zach's partner, at his most powerful form he seemed to be able to access at present, was a sadistic bastard, at least he _had_ a partner. But she was helpless, being forced to rely on others for her own protection. She had lost her independence, she had lost her confidence…she had lost her reason to live. But worst of all, she had lost her best friend.

She closed her eyes again, knowing that the visions would return but not wanting to gaze out on the cruel world for any longer than she had to.

She longed to wake up and see it was all just a nightmare. But no awakening came. This was reality. This was hell.

* * *

Zach wandered through the corridors of the house with Candlemon, briefly pausing at a window, looking outside to see Asuka lying on the grass, evidently crying, her D-Arc lying nearby, and her eyes closed. Part of him wanted to go help and comfort a fellow Tamer, even if that name was now a historical remnant for her. But he also knew he'd be little help. Other than distracting her from reality, he'd been very little help earlier, and he had a partner, so he'd probably wind up making things worse by reminding her of what she had lost. He also knew that, if he was in the same position, he'd want to be alone, and he knew that this girl would definitely want the same. She certainly hadn't fallen into anyone's arms to cry yet, and it seemed unlikely she would be doing so anytime soon.

Zach sighed, his partner looking at him with a mix of curiosity and sadness. Zach was expecting a holiday, and this just…wasn't. It wasn't anything like that, a fact Candlemon would've stated if he didn't know that this was not the time to be speaking. Candlemon frowned for his Tamer, hoping that things would look up for all of them sometime soon, but knowing in his fiery heart (literally) that that was very unlikely. Even if the Artmon were to vanish that second, their lives would be changed forever, and there was little they could do to stop that. This really did seem like the end of the world as they knew it, and they certainly didn't feel fine.

Zach turned, deciding to continue his look around to take his mind off things. He wandered along the corridor, past a still open sliding door and being given another glance of the girl crying outside, albeit a far briefer one this time round. He frowned, continuing his walk, stopping at a room with its sliding door open.

"Hmm," he pondered, stepping inside, and glancing around at the large room. It had a Spartan interior, as if it had been vacated, albeit with a few things left in place. The large empty floor was typical of most traditional Japanese homes, furniture like futons and tables brought out only as required from the various wardrobes around the walls. He noted a table left in the corner, a lamp, picture frame and pen resting on it. He walked over, carefully reaching down to the picture frame, and lifting it to his face, curious about what it could be of.

The photo in the simple wood-effect frame was at the now-familiar hideout, and was of four people and four digimon, two children, one a boy, one a girl, and two adults, one a man, one a woman.

The man had a mop of goggle-less brown hair, although it was far more tamed than it was back when he was a child. He wore a blue shirt, along with a black and red device on his arm. He had a pair of grey-greenish pants, and had his arm around the woman who sat on the step next to him, a smile on his face and happiness in his hazel eyes.

Her hair, an orangey-red colour, was untied and ran down to her mid-back. She had a pair of small silver earrings, sapphires embedded into them. Her smiling face was complimented by a pair of strands of hair running down either side, stopping at her neck. She wore a cerulean neck-less top, long sleeves loose near her hands (a small device peeking out like the one on the man next to her), and a pair of gray pants. She looked to the camera, her eye line loosening slightly to keep an eye on the two children sitting on the step below.

A girl wearing a red top, with the Digimon symbol on it, and blue jeans, smiled to the camera from where she sat. She, like the other two, had a black device on her arm, with bright blue and red screen lining. Her bright red hair ran down to her shoulders. Her other arm was playfully around the boy next to her, who seemed reluctant, trying to push it off, but she was having nothing of it, as she smiled to the camera.

The other child, younger than the girl next to her, wore a black shirt, and grey three-quarter length pants. On his arm was a black device, similar to the one on the girl next to him in that it was black with red and blue, but the red and blue had switched places, and darkened. He had dark brown hair, very dark in fact, when contrasted with his red patch of dyed hair on the top of his head running from the front to the back along a raised portion of hair. He had a glum expression on his face, as if he didn't want to be in the shot.

On the younger girl's opposite shoulder to the side that the other boy was on, she had a small Kyubimon-like creature, holding her tails down so as not to obscure the older woman's face from the picture. Standing behind the older woman, gracefully looking to the picture in a pose that was all measure of calm contentedness, and yet readiness at the same time, was a tall fox that was all-too familiar to the viewers, and gave a clue as to the identities of those in the picture.

On the other side, sitting next to the older man and smiling widely to the camera, was a large red dinosaur, black stripes crossing his skin everywhere but on his white stomach, which was instead covered in a large symbol.

Below him, next to the younger boy was a similarly sized Digimon, but this one was a dragon. His wings were placed together behind him, only peeking out slightly. His face held some concern as he looked at his glum Tamer. His skin was mostly black, apart from some light grey portions on his stomach, lines down either side of his head and across his limbs and tail.

"What is it Boss?" Candlemon asked, peering up to his Tamer curiously.

"Takato, Guilmon, Rika, Renamon, Rey, Realmon, Dai and Damon," he explained, pointing to each of them as he spoke the names. He smiled grimly, knowing the happiness in the image was probably by now long gone. He wondered where they were all now, hoping that, wherever they were, and whatever they were doing right now, they were together as a family. "The family Matsuki," he said, his voice cheery as he pondered about one of the most known about families on Earth, even if they themselves would rather not be so.

The sound of a muffled laser nearby made him turn nervously and rapidly, followed by a crashing sound as the wall shook. Subsequently, an alarmed figure raced into the room, quickly sliding the door closed behind him and holding it shut in lieu of a lock.

"Haru?" Zach asked, recognising the commander. Zach's eyes widened, feeling a foreboding terror. Something bad was definitely going on, and he had a nagging hunch what it was.

"Zach!" the commander replied, his voice panicky as he recognised the boy near the wall on the other side of the room.

"What's going on?" Zach asked again, seriously hoping that this wasn't what it seemed.

The commander didn't get a chance to respond. A shot cleared straight through his chest, rupturing his skin and his armour in turn, a beam of red light continuing through before it faded into nothing. The commander's eyes widened, clutching his chest in disbelief, lifting the armour padding to look underneath, a clean hole in the front of the material.

Zach stared on in horror at a fleshy hole, on the man's chest. Worst still, it was a clean, precisely aimed, small and, most disturbing of all, perfectly circular shot. Indeed, the only mess was the blood that had begun to pour from it.

The commander's gaze weakened, his eyes beginning to glaze over as he collapsed to the ground rapidly, sliding down the doorframe frailly. Zach stared on in shock, a circular hole in the paper-thin door behind the commander. Zach felt like he was about to be sick, a nauseous feeling welling at the pit of his throat.

Unfortunately for Zach, he didn't have much time to reel in horror at what had just happened, to ponder the significance of the hole, or even to simply be sick. He didn't even have enough time to consider how he could help the man he had only met less than an hour ago. And Candlemon certainly didn't have a chance to point out what had just happened.

The paper was ripped easily through, the thin substance ripping roughly across its surface as a rounded cube burst into the room, the shadows of the room creating an eerie horror. Zach was stuck, with no way out and with an enemy in front of him, which had demonstrated before that it could attack faster than he could get Candlemon to digivolve or simply to attack, particularly given that Candlemon was still in shock himself from what was going on. This looked like a bad situation.

"Run," Haru said weakly, his eyes closing as he went limp, his body left to lean against the door. Zach quickly pondered the idea that the dying man had suggested, but quickly dismissed it upon a quick glance around the room.

"There's no way out!" Zach panicked. Candlemon looked similarly horrified to his Tamer as two further Artmon joined the first, making the situation even more grave than it was. Zach glanced rapidly from sight to sight: to the Artmon; to the unmoving commander against the door; to his partner; back to their foes..

The commander was dead. And they were next.

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

Yeah, things are about to get a whole lot grimmer. I'd like to hear what you thought of this chapter, so please review.

Next time, there's the return of a familiar character, and she is about to leave you very confused indeed. And you all probably thought I was simply forgetting her…

Until next time…


	4. Alice McCoy

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the OCs in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise). Zach Strafer is the property of Fireblast123.

Thanks to Crazyeight for beta reading this chapter.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

**Stratagems**

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

_**CHAPTER 4**_

_Alice McCoy_

* * *

"CANDLE BURN!" Candlemon growled, his flame-like Digicore roaring up in anger as it became duplicated six times over, swarming around the three Candlemon.

Surprisingly, it worked, since the Artmon couldn't tell the difference between the real flame digi-cores and the fake flame digi-cores. Their cannons cocked, firing at three of the digi-cores, as Zach cast a thankful glance to his partner, giving one command.

"Run!" Zach yelled, as the pair of them raced under the still-confused Artmon, who quickly ganged up to take out the remaining three fake digi-cores, which burst into data over their heads. Zach leapt through the door, Candlemon in tow, as they burst out of the home. Three soldiers bustled past them, weapons drawn and prepared to take out Digimon.

"Attack!" one of them ordered, the bullets streaming past into the three Artmon, before exploding with an EMP charge. The Artmon, stunned, fell to the ground.

"Are you two alright?" another solider asked, Zach and Candlemon still staring on in shock at the scene. The body of Haru still lay against the now truly broken door, a puddle of blood rapidly growing underneath.

"The commander's dead," Zach noted, the soldiers looking in horror down to their dead comrade. One of them frowned, raising his radio to his mouth and beginning to talk sadly.

"This is Normal 2397 reporting Commander 294 Haru Kaede, deceased with honours," he noted, a frown passing between the three soldiers.

A trio of guns fired from below, the Artmon recovering as a large hole materialised through each of the soldiers.

Zach gripped his mouth in horror, feeling ready to be sick as the soldiers in horror looked to each other, and then down to their own injuries. The Artmon regained their ability to fly, taking to the air as they prepared to attack Zach.

Zach grabbed Candlemon, leaping aside and smashing through the panes of the exterior window, before the pair crashed to the grass below.

"Zach?!" Asuka asked, already on her feet and staring paralysed at the building, hearing horrifying noises from within.

"We have to run!" Zach answered, being silenced by the noise of Artmon crashing through glass panes behind. Zach gripped Asuka's stunned hand, before he pulled her away across the garden. She quickly recovered from her shock, following after quickly. Zach tightly gripped onto both the girl and his partner in his hands, as they raced through the now-open gate and into the street.

"They're gaining on us!" Asuka panicked. Zach detached himself from her, before gripping and lifting his D-Arc to his face. He let go of Candlemon's hand, before drawing a card into his freed hand and turning to face their pursuers, who approached them along the street.

"DIGI-MODIFY…Digivolution Activate!" he said in alarm, his D-Arc glowing as the light of digivolution enveloped his partner.

"_That's something I'll never get to do again," _Asuka mused.

**D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N**

**Candlemon Digivolve to…**

**Wizardmon!**

Zach looked to his partner, the candle-like form replaced by the humanoid form clutching a wooden sceptre, and wearing a ragged blue cape, steeple hat and with a small face pointing out from a gap in it. Wizardmon looked up to their three approaching foes, a new determination in his eyes as he cast his sceptre to the sky.

"THUNDER BLASTER!" he summoned, an electrical orb screaming through the air towards an Artmon. With the click of a gun, the ball of electricity was intercepted by another of the Artmon, sending it crashing into the fence of a house.

"_How are we going to fight these guys if they easily throw off our attacks like that?" _Zach thought in alarm, glancing to his partner.

Wizardmon simply smirked in amusement, raising his sceptre again. "MAGICAL GAME!" he cast, suddenly splitting into a dozen copies of himself. The Artmon began to track their cannons, but were quickly confused by the sheer number of them.

"It's working," Zach noted.

"Of course," a dozen Wizardmon replied in tandem.

The Artmon quickly changed their tact, cannons beginning to fire at as many of the clones as they could, but every time they hit, Wizardmon simply created two copies in their place. Zach frantically searched his cards, hoping he'd find something that'd allow them to put a conclusive stop to the battle.

"THUNDER BLASTER!" three dozen Wizardmon yelled, an equal number of electrical balls screaming towards an Artmon, who was powerless to stop the real one as it collided with its form, and blew it into nothing but data. The data was quickly absorbed by its comrades, who, noting the direction the real attack had come from, turned their weapons, firing downwards.

That Wizardmon grinned as he was blown to smithereens.

"I'm faster than that!" he joked, the sceptres raised again. "Zach, power!" he asked, Zach gripping a card quickly.

"I don't have anything," Zach noted, cards fluttering to the ground as he searched for something worthwhile.

Asuka frowned, a thought occurring to her as she reached down to her skirt, to a card pouch tucked alongside her static D-Arc. She pulled it out, holding it out to Zach with a grim frown.

"Here. Use it," she noted, Zach giving her a concerned look, before nodding and grasping the card.

"DIGI-MODIFY…Power Activate!" he called, Wizardmon grinning widely as he felt energy and strength gather in his sceptre. The Artmon continued to fire on, desperate to find the real Wizardmon.

Suddenly, the clones vanished, and the Artmon were confronted by a sole smirking Wizardmon, who raised his sparking sceptre.

"THUNDER…" he began, the Artmon preparing their guns to intercept the attack once again.

Wizardmon suddenly leapt forward, instead smashing his sceptre against one Artmon and striking it into the other, both electrocuted in the process. They burst into data, Zach cheering, Wizardmon smirking and landing on the ground, and Asuka beginning to panic as she looked to the sky.

"Don't celebrate too soon!" she warned, pointing a finger to a dozen Artmon now making a bee line for them.

Whilst Zach's grin quickly turned to a worried frown, Wizardmon didn't stop smirking, as his sceptre glowed, charging with energy as it sparked and hissed.

"ELECTRO SQUALL!" he yelled, a huge wide bolt of lightning streaking towards the gathered Artmon, which quickly melted away into data.

Silence began to fall as the Artmon seemed to cease, Wizardmon and Asuka glancing to Zach. "Now what?" Asuka asked, voicing their question.

"Um…" Zach glanced to the demolished wall, to the gate of the Nonaka household where he knew bodies of valiant soldiers lay, and to the sky, swarms of Artmon heading to and fro overhead. "Now…we run?" Zach asked, Asuka and Wizardmon nodding as they turned, picking up the pace as they raced along the alleyway.

"But where to?" Asuka asked, pondering where on earth they could possibly escape such a global threat.

"No idea," Zach answered.

"So what on earth do you have planned then?" Asuka asked, gripping Zach's arm and bringing them both to a stop in the shelter and shadow of an abandoned café. Zach glanced back curiously, grinning.

"I'm just hoping that we find something, that's all," he answered. "Somewhere, there's got to be something safe," he added.

"We need a plan," Asuka decided, with a frown. Wizardmon glanced up quickly, noting a few Artmon passing by nearby them, and lifting his sceptre.

"Wizardmon, in here," Zach ordered, Wizardmon frowning before following the two humans into the café. Asuka, Zach and Wizardmon paused once inside, quietly closing the door and keeping completely silent as they pressed their backs against it. With a quiet whirr, half a dozen Artmon flew by outside, but once gone, all that could be heard was a sigh of relief.

"That was a close one," Asuka noted.

"I could've taken them," Wizardmon boasted. Asuka cast a warning glare at the magical Digimon.

"At the risk of attracting a thousand more Artmon," she noted.

"Easy," Wizardmon insisted. Asuka groaned, glancing around the room, and noting that Zach had moved. He now stood, his hand on the side of a bowl of rice on a table. A frown had replaced his usual grin as he glanced over the other items of that particular meal; a glass of water and a small pastry. A chair lay abandoned on the floor below, as Zach pondered the fate of its previous occupant.

"Cold," he noted. Asuka frowned and nodded upon hearing the news, before glancing around at the small café. Half a dozen other tables were in a similar situation, and the lights were beginning to flicker off; a sign that the power stations and facilities around Tokyo had gone into shutdown. Finally, the café burst into darkness, a deep sigh passing between the two humans and the Digimon.

"Our world is falling apart," Asuka noted sadly. "And we don't even have anywhere to go," she added.

"Well, there is one good thing," Zach added, stepping over to the refrigerator as it started to whir down. He opened it, turning to Asuka and grinning. "We've got plenty of food," he added, gesturing to the amply stocked fridge.

"I suppose that's something," Asuka added glumly, as Zach removed his backpack and placed it onto the counter. He unzipped it, gesturing for the three to begin packing.

"We'll need stuff that's long lasting," Zach noted, Asuka nodding in response as a series of rice balls were loaded into the red and black bag. Zach momentarily pondered on his suitcase, now probably lying in the middle of a street. _"Ah well," _Zach sighed, noting that he had a few electrical gadgets and items for use on the plane in his rucksack. Perhaps they could prove useful at some point?

At least his games console would provide entertainment. Well, up until the battery ran out.

"What about food that needs to be cooked?" Asuka asked, pausing and glancing to the black haired boy. He grinned, an idea coming to him.

"Pack it. Candlemon can roast it if we need to," he said enthusiastically. Asuka nodded, continuing to pack the food into the bag as much as she could. "So long as he doesn't burn it," she muttered.

"I heard that," Zach noted with a grin. "And yeah, he probably will," he added. Asuka smiled weakly, nodding before taking off her own backpack and putting it down onto the counter.

"May as well take as much as we can," she noted. "Particularly if we have to discard a bag for some reason," she added.

"Good idea," Zach answered, as the fridge was finished off with. Well, anything that wouldn't rot as soon as it warmed up at least.

Asuka paused, a thought occurring to her. "Does this count as stealing?" she asked, raising an eyebrow to Zach.

"No idea. I thought that it was every man for himself at the moment," he answered, shrugging.

"Suppose so," Asuka answered, not entirely convinced by the morals of it all. What if the owners came back, and needed the food?

"Although, that does give me an idea," Zach added, turning and stepping over to a bag by a fallen chair, its owner having deserted it in a hurry in order to escape. Asuka tilted her head in questioning when he began to root through the bag, before he pulled out a cell phone. He glanced at it, deciding whether it would be useful, before shrugging and placing it into his pocket.

"Are you just stealing more things?" she asked, hands on hips as she looked down at him with bewildered eyes.

"Not stealing," he said, grinning. "Just, putting to better use," he added, pulling out a wallet and taking out all the yen inside, before placing it into his pants. Despite the complete collapse of order in Japan, probably the world too, some people could only be bought it seemed.

"Hmm…anything we particularly need?" Asuka asked, as Zach pulled out a pack of Aspirin. He glanced at it periodically, pondering something.

"Medical supplies I suppose…maybe this place has a First Aid box or something?" he asked. Asuka nodded in agreement.

"I'll check in the kitchen," she noted, stepping past him and out a doorway.

Zach paused, glancing up to his partner who currently stood near the door. The wizard was clearly using all of his restraint to prevent himself bursting out and firing willy-nilly at every passing Artmon.

"Wizardmon, are the Artmon doing anything?"

"Huh?" Wizardmon asked, glancing back to his Tamer. "Like what?"

"I don't know. Some sort of pattern or something?"

"Doesn't look like it. They do seem to be patrolling though every so often," he answered.

"Count then," Asuka noted, stepping back into the room with a green First Aid box in her hands. Zach and Wizardmon glanced to her enquiringly, prompting her to elaborate. "See if they're regular. Maybe we can exploit the pattern if they go by at the same intervals?" she suggested.

"Okay then," Wizardmon answered, waiting as he stared out the window. The two humans stayed deadly quiet; for fear that they would attract the Artmon's attention. All their previous talking couldn't have helped.

Asuka frowned as she sat on one of the few remaining upright chairs. She glanced to the black haired boy and his partner, engrossed in the life or death game they were currently involved in.

"_Maybe if she had survived, we could be helping out? We can't even fly now, and none of Candlemon's evolutions are that fast," _she thought, sighing at the memory of her now deceased Hawkmon.

"There," Zach noted, seeing a passing Artmon and prompting Wizardmon to begin counting.

"One, two, three, four, five, six…"

"_And what if we get separated? I would be killed instantly without a partner to even give me a hope of protection," _she added.

"…nineteen, twenty, twenty-one…"

Asuka unclipped her D-Arc, glancing over its static-filled screen. She wanted to cry…

"…twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one…"

..But, try as she might, no tears came to her eyes. She was beyond tears, now she was just trying to survive, clinging onto a boy she had only met by chance a couple of hours prior, and his berserk partner. Indeed, given the circumstances, Asuka could think of a hundred other Tamer and Digimon pairs she would prefer to be stuck with, not least one of the Angels. But, it seemed they were gone, taken down by whoever their Lord and Master was.

"…fifty, fifty-one…"

How had he taken over so easily anyway? No-one even seemed to put up any resistance, or even have the time to consider doing so. Were the Artmon really that powerful?

"…sixty…"

"There," Zach said triumphantly, as another set of Artmon joined the first. "Keep counting, see if they're at regular intervals," he ordered, Wizardmon nodding.

"…seventy, seventy-one…"

"_What are we expecting anyway?" _Asuka pondered. _"If he really has the world under his power, where can we run to? No-one will be able to fight back, they'd just be killed. Even the main Tamers and Angels sound like they're incapacitated. I suppose if Zach manages to find a few other Tamers, they could start to build a resistance, but the overlord guy will just go for them first of all to avoid that happening."_

"…ninety, ninety-one, ninety-two…"

She sighed, running her hands through her deep blue hair. How could everything change so quickly, and without any warning? One moment, they were living their lives as normal, the next, they're running for their lives from someone who took over the world in a few minutes flat. Things weren't meant to happen that fast in reality; that was the realm of science fiction and comic books.

"...one one one, one one two, one one three, one one four…"

Asuka kept her eyes peeled on the window, eagerly hoping they had learned an important secret. It could save their lives if it were true.

"…one hundred and twenty," Wizardmon said.

"There," Zach said simultaneously, a silent cheer passing between he and his partner as Zach pumped his fist.

"One minute isn't long," Asuka noted, collecting the First Aid Kit and placing it into her bag, before progressing to close it.

"It's long enough," Zach added. "And at least it's regular."

"Hopefully the same interval applies to them all," Wizardmon added. "Or we've got problems."

"He must have billions of Artmon out there if he can monitor the whole world so frequently," Asuka noted, partly in awe and partly in horror.

"I'd say that he is monitoring Tokyo closely in order to take out the survivors," Wizardmon mooted, Zach gathering his things as Asuka placed her bag onto her back. They joined Wizardmon near the door, anticipating when the Artmon would pass by again.

"Ready?" Zach asked his partner, and human companion.

"Never will be," Asuka said nervously.

A blur passed the window as the Artmon patrol repeated itself. Zach quietly opened the door once they were gone, glancing about before ushering on his allies to follow. Asuka and Wizardmon nodded, making quick progress before ducking into a narrow, dark, brick-sided alleyway.

No-one spoke as they heard the nearby whirring of Artmon emanating from the other end.

As the sound softened, fading away, they crept along, making slow progress before poking their heads around the end.

They ducked back quickly, as another set of Artmon crossed the first, no communication made between them as they parted ways.

"There are so many of them," Asuka whispered.

"I can take them," Wizardmon boasted quietly. Zach gestured for them to keep quiet before peeking again.

Suddenly, the wall above them exploded. Zach stumbled backwards, Asuka and Wizardmon staring on in shock. Zach was transfixed periodically, staring at the Artmon that had so quickly seen him. Thankfully it was too quick for the machine Digimon to aim, but no doubt it wouldn't miss next time.

"Run!" Zach yelled, the three turning on their heels and pacing down the alleyway, it seeming even more claustrophobic and dark than before. Another laser blast collided with the wall behind Asuka's head. She gripped her heart, feeling it race.

Suddenly, another swarm of Artmon swept into the other end of the alleyway. Sheer panic displayed on the faces of the children, as they about-faced to see their rapidly approaching other foes.

Wizardmon raised his sceptre. "ELECTRO SQUALL!" he called, a bolt of lighting striking the first Artmon they had encountered. Electricity reverberated to two more Artmon that had joined it from that direction, clearing the path as Wizardmon grinned widely, glad that his plan had worked. Their metal surfaces conducted electricity, and arced across to anything else nearby. But he had used up the last of his energy, and he felt himself barely able to hold onto his form any longer.

The teenagers and the wizard Digimon made no delay in pursuing this new escape route, pacing down the alleyway as it was blitzed by a dozen lasers, bricks collapsing and dust chucked up everywhere.

They raced into the centre of a street, Zach pausing as he noticed his partner stop, his data fazing.

"Wizardmon, you okay?" he asked, breathing quickly and his voice one of alarm. Suddenly, Wizardmon vanished, Candlemon standing in the same spot.

"What do we do now?" Asuka asked, glancing around in horror as swarms of Artmon approached from every direction. Both ends of the street, the alleyway they had come from, even from above, all surrounding them.

Asuka, Zach and Candlemon closed their eyes, breathing in deeply as they awaited the end.

"Erase," said a new voice, calm and collected, in an American accent. Zach, Candlemon and Asuka opened their eyes. Even the Artmon turned to face the source; perhaps knowing that an unknown variable could spell disaster for their stratagem.

The sound of wind chimes rang as a wave emanated from a weapon, effortlessly warping through reality. Upon encountering an Artmon, the wave swirled, the Artmon being warped into nothing. Zach and Asuka stared on in amazement, their enemies dispatched with ease. Silence fell, a calm yet sudden silence, as they turned to face a girl. Her blond hair was tightened by two black hairbands at either side of her head, a dour and glum look to her matured face. Below, she wore all black, but unlike Zach, hers was clearly to demonstrate her social standing. Her gothic Lolita outfit was gently wafted by the wind, and Zach would've made a guess that the girl was around nineteen. In her hand, a small, but seemingly out-of-this-world weapon was held, a steam-punk style to it. A long thick red barrel ended in a large brass plate, three glowing brass prongs protracted from the end. However, their glowing vanishing quickly, and it was evident that this was the weapon that had just saved their lives.

"Are you okay?" the girl asked, her voice mature but somehow holding a deep sorrow to it.

"I think so," Asuka noted, as the girl wandered towards them.

"Who are you?" Zach asked, his eyebrows rose at their saviour, albeit an oddly dressed one (even though she was wearing clothing rather akin to his own).

She frowned deeply, an odd thing for someone to do when giving their name.

"Alice McCoy."

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

Heh, and there's your answer. There are a few things odd about Alice though. Very odd.

Anyhow, thanks for reading, and the next chapter will be up soon, with one clue to tease you until then:

"Feather."

Until next time…


	5. The Feather

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the OCs in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise). Zach Strafer is the property of Fireblast123. I don't own Fuji TV either.

Thanks to Crazyeight for beta reading this chapter.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

**Stratagems**

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

_**CHAPTER 5**_

_The Feather_

* * *

"So, who are you?" Alice asked, continuing their conversation as she looked at the pair of humans and the digimon who currently seemed in a state of shock at recent events. She couldn't blame them; she'd only been in the area for a short while, and it was already a horrific sight. She'd seen worse, but that was to be expected.

Zach grinned widely, returning to his usual form as he introduced himself. "I'm Zach Strafer, and it's always nice to meet an older woman…"

Alice simply gave him a blank look, not even bothering to convey any emotion.

"Zach, do you flirt with _everyone_?" Asuka asked, looking to her companion with bewilderment dominating her features.

"Well, everyone who's a girl and not too old or too young, yes."

"Hmm…I think I'm a lot more out of your age range than you think Zach," Alice muttered.

"Huh, what do you mean by that?" Zach asked, his grin dropping as he eyed this new girl with a look of confusion. Heck, she may have been a few years older than him, but he'd heard of couples with bigger differences than that.

"How old are you?" Candlemon asked, looking with curiosity at this new girl.

"Nineteen, now, it looks like we've got trouble," Alice answered, holding up her weapon again, after reloading it in a manner akin to a shotgun. She held it to the sky, as two dozen Artmon came out from behind some buildings, advancing on them from all sides. The reinforcement call had clearly been heeded, and fast.

"Meh, it's only three years," Zach noted, shrugging.

"Not the time!" Asuka argued.

"I am going to get _so_ sick of doing this, thanks a lot guys!" Alice complained, bitterness in her voice, pressing the button on the gun. The prongs lit up near-instantly before deploying a wave that ripped through space effortlessly, wind chimes ringing in its wake.

"Hey, I'm a girl!" Asuka complained.

"Not the time!" Zach argued, as the Artmon disintegrated into nothing. Alice frowned, lowering the gun again as it deactivated. "What the hell is that thing?"

"It's a gun Zach," Alice answered.

"Not like any I've ever seen," Asuka noted, stepping up to look at the weapon in awe. As she reached out for it, Alice pulled it back.

"I don't know if it's safe," she quickly uttered. Zach grinned, shrugging as he walked up to the weapon, Alice trying to stop him but in the end failing.

"Lady, it's a gun, it's hardly…YEEEEEOOUCH!!" Zach screamed in pain as he touched its side, immediately retracting his reddened hand. "What is that, a thousand degrees?!" he asked.

Alice shrugged, gripping the gun tight in her hand, as Asuka eyed her oddly.

"Hey, why doesn't it burn you?" she asked.

Alice shrugged. "I don't know…um…what's your name?" she asked.

"Huh?"

"You never told me your name."

"Oh, right. It's Asuka…Asuka Kumiko," the girl greeted with a smile.

"I see. I think it's time we got to safety."

"Why, does that weapon run out of power otherwise?" Asuka asked curiously.

"Well, let's just say I only just got it, and I don't want to find out," Alice answered, beginning to walk. "Come on, this way," she said, gesturing along one of the various streets.

"Huh? Who gave you it?" Asuka asked.

"Yeah, I'd love to have one, and, you know, stay alive because of it," Zach commented.

"It doesn't matter."

"I think I prefer Candlemon being obvious to you hiding everything," Asuka noted.

"Hey!" Candlemon complained.

"It's true," Zach said as an aside to his partner.

"What, he states the obvious all the time?" Alice asked, a bewildered look on her face.

"Yeah, sorta," Zach answered.

"Well, that's a new one," Alice answered. "Heh. And here was me thinking this world was full of bland, boring people with very little difference."

"Hey!" Zach complained.

"You baka, she just complimented you as being different," Asuka argued.

"Didn't sound like a compliment to me," Alice noted.

"What?" Asuka asked, now thoroughly confused.

"You don't make any sense, you know that Lady?" Zach commented, a single eyebrow rising sarcastically.

"Look, do you want me to save you or not?" Alice asked, stopping and turning on her heels to face the pair of children and the Digimon. "I have my own far more important task to do, but I'm helping you kids because I don't want you to end up the same way I did, okay? Those Artmon will butcher you to the ends of the Earth, and this planet is going to boil, so what I have to do is paramount, okay?" she argued. "So stop asking who I am, what I'm up to or whether I'll go out on a date," she finished, frowning.

"Okay!" Zach and Asuka both said together, surprised at how this woman had ranted at them like that.

"Good," Alice answered, turning and continuing to walk. She crossed her arms, frowning. "Nonetheless, I'd like to know a bit more about you two," she noted.

"Oh, well I'm Zach Strafer, I'm 16, I'm from Denver, Colorado in the US of A, I'm single, my interests include Digimon and…"

"Zach is flirting again," Candlemon pointed out as Asuka groaned.

"…and my Digimon partner is the unbeatable Candlemon!"

"Okay, from now on, you don't talk," Alice ordered, causing Zach to frown. "Now, Asuka, what about you? Where do you live, and all that? Loving family, or arguing all the time like realistic families do?" she asked, Asuka catching up and standing next to her.

"I live here in Tokyo…and my parents…well, I don't know if they're alive," she said sadly.

"Oh, sorry," Alice answered, her voice saddened at the concept. "Hey, I noticed Zach has Candlemon, or maybe it's the other way around, but…do you have a Digimon?"

Asuka frowned even further, making Alice feel even worse about asking. "I did."

"Oh," Alice answered. Asuka tried to put a brave face on things, looking up to the older girl curiously.

"Do you have a Digimon?" she asked. There wasn't one in sight, but then again, it could always be something like Renamon. How else would she have known the Artmon were coming before she could see them?

"I did have," Alice answered. "Well, kind of," she added.

"Oh…what happened?" Asuka asked. Alice frowned, biting past the tears. "Oh, you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

Alice looked to Asuka, the younger girl seeing a deep sadness in her elder's eyes. "No, I'll answer. His name was Dobermon, and he died to save the world. I guess that's better than him being killed in some battle," she answered, before noticing a saddened look on Asuka's face. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean it that way."

"No, that's okay," Asuka answered. "I know you didn't."

"Yeah, it's a minefield of tragedies in this new world," Zach noted, a half smile coming to his face.

"Zach, don't joke about this!" Asuka snapped at him. "I mean, look at you, your parents could be dead and you haven't even shed a tear. You must be the most unemotional person I've ever known, you're so dense! You're lucky to have never had anything like this happen to you. Zach, when you lose someone important to you, you'll know the pain! The bloody pain of having a part of you ripped out while your heart still beats!" she screamed, her eyes welling with tears.

A silence fell, only broken by Asuka gasping for air. Zach looked shocked, before breaking into a frown.

Alice frowned. _"Poor kid," _she contemplated, before putting out her hand to Asuka. "Don't cry," she wished. "Come on, we have to find somewhere safe to hide," she added.

"Okay," Asuka answered sadly.

* * *

"Close the doors!" Alice yelled.

"What?!" Zach and Asuka panicked, looking at their newfound ally in confusion as she stood outside the stuck-open automatic doors of the hotel they had found. Zach, Candlemon and Asuka had raced through first, but Alice had stopped to face their enemies, now numbering in the hundreds by Zach's reckoning.

"DO IT!" Alice blasted.

"Come on Asuka," Zach said to the girl, who looked at him with bewilderment. "Look, whatever she's doing, she knows what she's doing, so just trust her, okay?" he added.

Asuka nodded unsurely, the pair each running to one of the two glass doors. They gripped onto the frame, Asuka looking up to Zach for confirmation that this was really a good idea. He was having none of it though, giving up on convincing her to help and instead just barking orders.

"Now push!" he said, before the pair began to strain at the doors. Candlemon looked over the situation with horror at the surreal nature of it all, being brought back to reality as the doors slammed together. Zach and Asuka paused, looking up at Alice as she busily adjusted her gun to cope with the vast numbers of Artmon now rapidly approaching. She finally completed the adjustments, raising it and pointing it in the Artificial Digimon's direction. Blasts had begun to fire, striking the edges of the building and making the windows vibrate. It was now clear why they'd closed the doors: without them, they would have no defence at all against the blasts if one were to head straight for them.

Wind chimes rang once again on the streets of Tokyo, albeit the group having reached the edge of the 23 Special Wards by now, as the gun fired. The vastly increased size wave once again ripped through the Artmon, reducing them to nothing, with no pain. The Artmon couldn't feel pain.

Silence fell, a silence of relief, as Alice turned, facing the window of the door and raising the gun again. _"I hope this is the way it works,"_ she noted, as she fired, to the surprise of Zach and Asuka who shut their eyes.

Whilst their initial surprise at being fired at quickly dissipated when it became clear that they were the target, when they opened their eyes to the sound of wind chimes they witnessed Alice somehow replacing the window again on the other side, having stepped through effortlessly as if it were not even there.

"Whoa…how did you do that?" Zach asked.

"Magic," Alice answered, wandering over to the reception desk as she began to search around for something. Zach's eyebrows raised in surprise, was she being serious?

"Really?" he asked, as she popped her head up from fumbling around the desk.

"No, but you wanted an explanation," she answered, looking down and continuing to search.

"What are you looking for?" Asuka asked, looking with bewilderment at the sight.

"A key," she answered. Zach and Asuka looked over her shoulder to the variety of card keys in piles behind.

"There's no power, they won't work," Asuka noted.

"Not those keys," Alice answered, lifting up another key instead, a standard Yale key. She strode over to the door, turning it in the lock and sealing the automatic doors together, before she breathed a sigh of relief.

"What was that for?" Zach asked.

"Won't the Artmon just smash through the glass?" Asuka asked, worried about the concept.

Alice paused, looking to her blankly before answering. "They may seem to be designed well, but they're not. This place is locked, and they know it has been already scanned for life, so they won't bother to check it."

"But they're after us!" Asuka blurted, hoping that Alice would remember the hundreds of Artmon that had seemed to be chasing them just moments beforehand.

Alice paused again before answering. "They were only after us because they saw us, I don't think we're that high profile a target to be continually pursued."

"So we're safe?" Asuka asked.

"Hope so," Alice replied.

"So, a hotel?" Zach asked bewilderingly, looking around at the modern ground floor. A few powerless elevators stood, the normal way up to rooms. Over to one side, a restaurant, or at least a buffet, began, whilst some emergency stairs and a conference room door could also be seen.

"Well, at least we can eat whatever hasn't gone off yet," Asuka answered. "It'll get dark though when night comes," she added.

"I can make a fire?" Candlemon suggested.

"That might get out of control," Zach noted. "We'll just use you as a Candle."

"Aw, shucks."

"Hmm, I have an idea," Alice pondered, glancing about at the room curiously, noting the lights dotted about. "Okay everyone, I want you to close your eyes," she advised.

"Huh?" Asuka asked.

"Please, just close your eyes," Alice repeated, Zach, Asuka and Candlemon reluctantly doing so. Alice wandered over to the nearest light switch, looking curiously at it. She flicked it to the off position. "Okay, now I want you to assume the lights are off, but there is power. We've just turned the lights off, okay?"

"What help will assuming things do?" Asuka asked, keeping her eyes closed.

"Please, just trust me," Alice asked.

"Fine," Asuka answered.

"You really have to believe it," Alice continued. "Like when you're a kid, and you're with your…family…" she paused, a saddened tone gripping her voice.

"Alice, you okay?" Zach asked, noticing the girl's silence.

"I'm fine," she answered. "When you're a kid, you can imagine things so much they become real."

"Yeah, I used to do that with Digimon. Then again, they _were_ real, I just really wanted one. And then I did, and then…" Zach rambled.

"Zach, we get the idea," Asuka snapped.

"Oh, sorry," Zach answered.

"Right, I know this sounds improbable, but I want you all to believe that there is power in the system of this hotel, and that, if I flick the lights on, it'll work, okay?" she asked.

"Right," the three replied, preparing to open their eyes.

"Wait, don't open your eyes yet!" Alice advised. "I haven't done it yet," she added.

"Oh, right, sorry," Zach replied. Alice gripped the gun tightly, dearly hoping this plan would work.

"Okay…Alice turned the lights on," she said, flicking the switch and smiling as she opened her eyes to light. She smiled properly for the first time in ages, looking around as Zach, Asuka and Candlemon did the same, not believing their eyes.

"How can there be…" Asuka began.

"No!" Alice yelled. "Don't question it!" she blurted.

"But how did you do that?" Zach asked curiously.

"It relies on the gun, and on your perceptions," Alice explained, holding up the weapon and pausing as she appeared to contemplate something. "The gun can manipulate reality and dimensions, but it needs you all to believe that it'll work. It can only alter things when you all think it should be altered, and when you don't simply assume that the building is without power."

"So, do we have to keep believing this?" Asuka asked, still amazed at the concept. Their whole world was thrown for a loop, how could such a weapon exist? Then again, they lived in a world where huge monsters were relatively commonplace; it was hardly a long shot to consider such a device. Hell, even time travel seemed to be possible.

Zach pondered the concept: there didn't seem to be any other real life way to explain how Rey was both here and in images from Digital Watch in 2010 at the same time at what seemed to be the same age. Then again, the pictures weren't exactly all that helpful, the last fifteen years of sever transfers, corruptions, virus attacks and government intervention had had a habit of messing up a lot of Digital Watch's data, and the loss of date stamps on a lot of (seemingly) older images (which were themselves usually taken secretly in less than advantageous lighting conditions) made it pretty hard to tell if she really had travelled in time or if the one or two pictures that featured her were simply the victims of various mix-ups.

"Well, given that it exists and I've proved it does, I wouldn't be too worried. You don't have to think it constantly, just forget about it and take it as fact," Alice answered, walking over to a hotel computer and smiling lightly as it booted up. Everything was going rather well.

"Zach, can we go get food now?" Candlemon asked, looking up to his partner curiously.

"I think we should check the hotel is safe first," Asuka disagreed, before her stomach rumbled as she looked rather embarrassed. "Then again, I am pretty hungry," she noted.

"Candlemon's already gone," Zach noted, Asuka noticing the absence of the ornamental Digimon. "We better get there before he eats everything even remotely edible."

"Could he just eat things that are gone off?" Asuka asked, following him through into the restaurant.

"Suppose so," Zach answered. Asuka paused, noticing Alice now busy with starting the computer.

"Um…I'll catch you up," she noted to the teenage boy, before turning and walking over to Alice. "Hey, aren't you hungry or anything?" she asked curiously, pondering why Alice was accessing the computer.

"Not really," Alice answered. "Hmm…never even thought about that," she added, pondering to thin air.

"You've never thought about eating?" Asuka asked, bewildered. "Aren't you hungry?" she asked.

"Oh, I didn't mean that," Alice reiterated. "Never mind, I might have something small later," she added.

"Oh, okay…I'll make sure there's still something to eat," Asuka answered, unsure as to why this woman didn't even seem to have an appetite, when even she herself, a rather modest eater compared to some, was starving by now. Running for your life had a habit of making you exhausted.

"Thanks," Alice noted, watching the girl head for the restaurant before a frown dropped onto her face once she had gone out of sight. "Hmm, why does she change so much? She was really sad just now…" she pondered, frowning. "I'm depressing myself now…well…I think I've been as far as that allows," she contemplated, before looking at the computer with a frown as it rebooted for the hundredth time, the disks continually turning on and off. "Power fault," she said in an irritated tone, climbing down under the desk and looking behind the tower with a frown. She reached for her gun.

* * *

Candlemon practically poured food down his throat, Zach doing pretty much the same but with the courtesy of getting a plate first, while Asuka sat, more moderately eating as she watched the other two.

"_Like Tamer like Digimon…"_ she thought sadly.

* * *

Alice destroyed the last screw with the gun, pulling the frame off and looking at the various chips and technology inside the tower. A superconductor whirred away, more or less effortlessly powering the computer, but she spied the problem. She reached for the power supply, ripping the case off and looking curiously at the smouldering inside, a few cables burnt out with their copper showing by the previous power cut. She reached for the key from before, before reaching around in the box for an unbroken wire. Cutting the ends off with the key, she checked it for length against where it was due to go. She then grabbed the broken cable of the power supply unit, pulling it loose before casually glancing to the still plugged in system.

"Wow, that could've killed me," she muttered, the prospect oddly not fazing her at all, as she continued to work.

* * *

"Okay, three, two, one!" Zach counted down, before gesturing towards the wooden door. "Fire!" he called, grinning as Candlemon threw a bomb made of flame at the door.

"FLAME BOMBER!" he roared, Zach and him grinning as they burst the door down. Zach wandered into the hotel room, glancing around curiously at its size and its bathroom before jumping across the bed, landing on it and sitting still for a bit before lying his head down on the pillow. He sat up straight away, frowning.

"Nope, this room isn't up to my standards. Next one," he added, looking to Candlemon with a grin as they rushed outside. Asuka rolled her eyes, walking over to the television. Out of pure banal curiosity, she turned it on, looking with a frown at the static that filled the screen.

"Well, I can't say I didn't expect anything else," she noted, before curiosity caused her to reach for the remote. "Hmm…" she pondered, flicking through the channels in the hope that they'd find someone trying to make contact with them.

"_**And now on Fuji TV Kids, we have another episode of Digimon Frontier,"**_ the enthusiastic announcer said eagerly, but it was clearly a pre-recorded voice. The program was pretty old by now, of course, but as the titles rolled, a slim smile came to Asuka at the familiarity of it all.

"_Phantasmagoric Sakkakumon," _she recalled from the first bits of the opening sequence, nodding in agreement as the titles showed up in their flaming style and agreed with her. She stepped back, falling back onto the bed. _"This room'll do. I'll get changed in the bathroom though, I don't want Zach walking in through that open door when I'm getting changed," _she mooted. _"Not that I have any other clothes anyway," _she added, sighing at reality hitting her again.

* * *

Candlemon walked, or rather, hopped along the corridors, his curiosity plagued by the extent of the hotel, and his fear excited by the square-shaped shadows passing the windows every so often. The Artmon obviously hadn't figured out yet that the fact the lights were on meant someone was inside, something that they all had to be thankful for.

"_It is very weird here. Zach is being insensitive. Asuka is being emotional. I do not know what Alice is doing. I think I should find out," _he reasoned, his thoughts as obvious and stated as he had a habit of doing with his words.

* * *

"I found a really cool big room, so, goodnight," Zach noted, looking into the room where Asuka was finishing watching the episode, a grim frown on her face.

"Yeah, goodnight," she said sadly.

"Um…are you alright?" Zach asked, as Asuka switched off the television with the remote and slid down to lie down in the bed.

"Yeah," she answered sadly, turning her head over to face away from him as she pulled the blanket over.

"Oh…okay," he answered, not really sure how to deal with the situation. He wandered away from the doorway, heading down the still-lit corridor towards his room a few doors away.

Now that Candlemon had gone walkabouts, he had been forced to kick the door down himself, cursing the "stupid card keys" in the process. He hadn't seen Alice in a while, but he presumed she could take care of herself. She certainly didn't seem to want his help, and…

"_Is that crying?" _he pondered, hearing a muffled wail from the room nearby where the door had been so elegantly bombed. He paused in his tracks, listening to Asuka as she began to cry, torn between leaving her be and going to comfort her. He was about to turn, but he paused, frowning. _"What help would I be? I just irritate her…she's right in saying I'm insensitive, but…I have nothing to be sad about," _he pondered, turning back to face towards his room as he contemplated the other option. _"But…she did save my life, and I can't just leave her…" _he thought. _"I never saw this coming when the world started to end,"_ he reflected sadly, making a final choice and turning to walk back towards the room.

He paused in the doorway, tapping on the doorframe to show he was there. She paused all of a sudden, opening her eyes from where she lay under the blanket, crying.

"You're not alright, are you?" Zach noted with a frown.

"Just…emotional…hard day," Asuka said, trying to dismiss him. She wasn't the kind who'd avoid showing weakness in front of someone at all costs, but she had always thought of crying as a silent thing, a release when the world got to you.

"Wanna talk about it?" Zach asked, wandering into the room and sitting on the other bed.

"Not really," she answered, still under the covers. Her voice still held much sorrow, and Zach really wasn't sure how to continue pressing the point without irritating her.

"You know, my mum always used to say the easiest way to get over something that's bothering you is to talk about it all," he noted. "I talk about it too much I suppose, but you know what I mean," he added.

She frowned, sitting up and displaying her reddened eyes and wet cheeks. "I don't even know you Zach," she said, not wanting to sound harsh but nonetheless coming out that way.

Zach nodded, shrugging. "I know, but, Candlemon can't make a proper conversation without pointing out every little detail, and Alice is downstairs and she doesn't want to talk about all of this it seems. I was there, I saw it. And, you both saved me and Candlemon, and I really owe you for that," he thanked. "And, I kind of want to repay the favour," he added. "So, do you want to talk?" he asked.

"I guess so," she answered, although neither could really think of how to continue the conversation.

"Hmm…well, how did you and Hawkmon become partners?" he asked, looking to her curiously.

"I got caught up in a bioemergence, like most other Tamers. And then, he appeared, and then he protected me from another bioemergence, a Goblinmon, that tried to attack us. That's when we became partners."

"How long ago was that?" Zach asked.

"Two years," she answered with a frown. "And now it's over…everything's over," her head drooping sadly.

"Now, come on," Zach encouraged. "Don't think that way…you will get through this, I promise you," he noted, before being surprised as she leant onto his shoulder. _"Okay, this is weird," _he pondered, uncomfortably putting an arm round her upper back.

"Thanks," she said with a tinge of sadness in her weeping voice. Zach continued to raise an eyebrow at her actions.

"_O…kay…I think this is a fr__iendly hug…oh, who am I kidding? I don't have a clue, people rarely hug me…I'm so unloved…wait, one problem at a time…"_ he insisted to himself.

"So, what about you?" she asked, sitting up again on the edge of her bed to face him. "How did you meet Candlemon?"

"Well, in the Digital World, the Southern Region to be precise, they thought he was a bit of a weakling, which is pretty typical for there. But, one day, he's just summoned out of the blue to this world…well, he says summoned, I think he just fell through. Anyway, he biomerged, landed on top of me as I ran home from school, and we've had a connection ever since. That was about a year ago I suppose."

A half smile came to Asuka's face. "So many Tamers, it's odd. Hard to believe that at one point we numbered in the single digits."

"Yeah," he pondered. "Look, can we just try to get along?" he asked, looking at the girl curiously. "It's going to be difficult from here on out, and it doesn't help if we bicker, so…I promise I'll be less annoying if, in return, you promise to kiss me," he said cheekily, grinning.

"Not on your life," she answered, a smile coming to her face.

"Cheered you up though," he noted, continuing to smile.

"I always used to find clowns hilarious."

"Hey!"

* * *

"Yeah, well you try rewiring a flipping PC sometime…no, I am not making a mountain out of a molehill," Alice muttered to herself, as Candlemon hopped into the room. She stood up, kicking the computer into gear as it started up, smiling as it started as she intended. "Finally…" she said, sighing in relief.

"Hmm…" Candlemon pondered, not making himself known just yet.

"Okay, there we are…Digital Watch," she noted. "Anything new? No, nothing," she continued to ramble. "I think that everyone's still recovering from the initial surprise, but I hope they pull through. If they're alive, that is. No, I am sure they're alive," she muttered.

"_Alice is crazy,"_ Candlemon stated to himself.

"At least I've got what I've been searching for," Alice noted.

She reached into her pocket, pulling out a curious item as Candlemon cocked his waxy head. It was a feather, like a bird's feather, albeit slightly larger than the average bird's feather. It wasn't a natural colour though (except maybe for a parrot), with red and orange patterns running along it, a beautiful fiery colour. The candle looked oddly at the item, as she carefully placed it on the desk, pausing as she did so.

"It was easy to find, maybe too easy…it's weird, and I don't even know what it is needed for. I'll find out sometime, and then…then I just hope I can get my reward," she supposed, sighing and yawning. "God, it's late…but," she wondered, looking at the computer. "I can't just leave them here when I go…I have to save them somehow…wait, that's it!" she muttered, beginning to explore the site. "Now just to guide me through it…" she began.

Candlemon yawned, turning and hopping away. He'd think about it at some other time, it really didn't matter right now.

"_Hmm...__Glad that wasn't Zach or anyone, they might actually suspect something. Candlemon doesn't seem the type to think about things all that much," _Alice contemplated, watching the ornamental Digimon leave with a slim smile on her face. _"Odd that he didn't realise I noticed him though. Oh well…"_

* * *

**30****TH**** AUGUST 2026**

* * *

Silence. Utter silence for the first time in more than a hundred years befell the area around the hotel room, allowing Asuka to wake peacefully from her sleep. She yawned, looking around at the odd calm before sitting up, and then standing up out of bed, noting how she still wore her dark blue top and grey skirt, her line of midriff and the creases in her clothes far more substantial than usual thanks to a troubled sleep. Adjusting her clothes as best as she could, she stood up, contemplating how to break the endless wearing of the same clothes she could find a washing machine in the hotel or something to clean them.

"_Then again, what would I wear whilst waiting? I mean, Zach was nice and all last night when he talked to me and all, but, I don't particularly trust him to keep his curiosity at bay. I suppose that isn't all that fair though, he may flirt a lot but he's not really a pervert. He just really needs a girlfriend."_

A troubling thought crossed Asuka's mind.

"_I hope he doesn't want me to be that girlfriend," _she contemplated. She had enough on her plate right now, with the death of her partner and probably of her parents too to deal with, and, although it was good to have a friend who could lend an ear to talk and a shoulder to cry on, she really didn't want anything further than that until she at least had some semblance of normality in her life.

"Um, Asuka?" Zach greeted, knocking on the doorframe nervously. He wasn't sure if she would be changing or something. Then again, what would she be changing into?

"Yes Zach?" she asked, standing up and picking up her navy D-Arc from the side table, before clipping the now-useless device onto her skirt.

"Isn't it a bit too quiet?" Zach asked, Candlemon's hopping being the only noise to break the silence.

"Who's meant to be making the noise then?" Asuka asked.

"Yeah, I know that, but it's a bit too…quiet…"

Asuka paused, listening out. It was a bit eerie, even before they could hear the sound of Alice's muttering and her occasional trips to get food or whatnot from the restaurant, but now there was basically silence.

"I'm going to go have a look," Zach said, glancing to his partner who nodded in agreement.

"I'll come with, I don't think we should get split up," Asuka answered, following Zach away as they tiptoed down the corridors and down the stairwell, contemplating the worst. Could Alice be dead? Were they just walking into a trap? Or were they just answering a non-existent question?

Asuka and Zach paused at the bottom of the stairs, glancing at each other when they encountered the stairwell fire door separating it from the reception of the hotel.

"If you're game, then I am," he whispered. She nodded, both pushing a door at once and stepping out into the lobby.

"Shh…" Alice hissed, putting a finger over her mouth at the slight squeaking noise the doors had made. The pair walked across the room to where Alice sat by the computer, Candlemon's hopping making more noise than the pair of them put together. "I said shh…" Alice repeated, glaring at the ornamental Digimon.

"What's up?" Zach whispered, wondering what on earth was going on to prompt such silence.

"Trouble," Alice answered, glancing to the doors. A look of fear crossed Asuka's face.

"Are they coming?" she asked softly.

"They've changed their tracks, and they now go right past the front of the hotel. It's only a matter of time," Alice answered.

"So what? You just shoot them and we're safe," Zach asked, everyone still whispering.

"I have to go," Alice said.

"We'll come with then," Asuka insisted.

"You can't," Alice insisted.

"But you can help us."

"You really can't come with me. I'm sorry," Alice apologised. "I am going to get you out of here alive though."

"How?" Zach asked.

"One second," she procrastinated, turning her screen around to face the centre of the lobby. "Move," she whispered, Zach and Asuka creeping aside. "Now, I'm sorry, but this is going to make a lot of noise," she said, clicking the mouse as the screen glowed. It bulged, energy flowing off it and beginning to settle in the centre of the room, warping reality around it as the other three stared on in shock. Alice frowned, noticing how it wasn't working. She held the gun to a part of the still-opened computer tower, pressing it and disintegrating a component that was restricting power use. Suddenly, waves of data pulsed out of the screen, generating a surprising sight in the centre of the hotel floor.

"A portal?!" Zach questioned, having seen the odd anomaly in pictures on Digital Watch many a time. Asuka was similarly surprised, but Alice looked with a frown towards the window, a series of Artmon approaching.

"They're coming," she noted forebodingly, standing up from the desk and standing behind Asuka, Zach and Candlemon. "You have to go to the Digital World!" she insisted.

"Come with," Asuka encouraged, turning to the woman, who frowned and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, but I can't," she insisted.

"Please!" Asuka asked.

"They're going to kill you," Zach added.

"I know," Alice answered.

"I don't want to see another person die," Asuka cried, grabbing Alice's hand.

"Don't worry, I'm not _going to_ die," Alice insisted. "I'm sure we'll meet again, I have other tasks to complete, but I've been glad to help you here," she noted. "Please keep yourself safe, I hope nothing happens to either of you," she added. "Be very careful," she advised.

Zach glanced to Candlemon, nodding in agreement. "Ready bud?" Zach asked.

"Yeah boss," his partner answered. Zach nodded, looking over to Asuka who was still pleading with Alice.

"Please," she asked.

"I'm sorry, I really am," Alice apologised.

"Asuka, we have to go," Zach noted.

"I'm not leaving her behind," Asuka insisted to him.

"I will be fine," Alice insisted.

"So why can't I stay and then we can leave together?" Asuka asked.

"You'll be killed!" Alice insisted. "Trust me on that, you're only safe by leaving."

Zach's eyes widened as he saw the hundred or so Artmon approaching outside. Their notoriety as targets was obviously increasing, and they had to get away.

"Asuka, we have to go, now!" he insisted, his voice alarmed and panicky.

"Go!" Alice insisted, as cannon blasts collided with the hotel.

"No, I won't…" Asuka began again. Zach grabbed her hand before putting his arm round her.

"I am not losing you," he insisted. "You have lost so much, you have to survive!" he insisted, Alice nodding in agreement.

"Let me go!" she yelled, trying to pull herself free.

"I'm sorry," Alice muttered as Candlemon, Zach and a struggling Asuka stepped back into the portal, vanishing in a flash of light.

Alice frowned, holding the gun ready to aim as the Artmon swarmed into the hotel lobby, hesitating. _"They're more tactical than I gave them credit for,"_ she contemplated, considering she had a weapon in her hand that could eradicate them all. That wasn't how she planned to use it right now though.

She turned the barrel, frowning as it faced herself.

"Erase," she muttered.

Alice McCoy was no more.

* * *

Zach coughed as he looked about his crater, rather sizable and proving that in the Digital World someone could survive a lot more than they could in reality. He sat up and then stood up, rubbing his sore head as he glanced around at the desert-like environment he had ended up in, on his first trip to the Digital World. A grin crossed his face, but was short lived.

"You bastard!" Asuka yelled, leaping at his neck and throwing him to the ground, the pair brawling as Asuka desperately tried to get revenge for what Zach had forced her to do. Tears began to pour down her face, as she punched him in the gut. "You let her die!" she added.

"She escaped…she said she would…"

"She was lying!" Asuka insisted. "You could've helped me force her through the portal, why didn't you?!" she asked, having come to a stop on top of Zach with her hands firmly around his neck. He choked, forcing his words through.

"I'm…not…" he began, before being thankful as she loosened her vice-like grip. He coughed and spluttered before continuing to speak, his mind too oxygen-deprived and in shock to contemplate how she was on top of him, something which he was rather surprised Candlemon hadn't pointed out yet. Where was Candlemon anyway? "I'm not that strong," he finished.

"So why did you drag me through?!" she asked, her eyes red with emotion as she glared at him bitterly.

"I didn't want to see a friend die," he answered, frowning at the concept. She paused, not sure how to reply.

Cannons clicked.

"Um, boss…little help here…" Candlemon murmured, as Zach and Asuka looked around at the dozen Artmon now surrounding them.

"Crap…" Zach cursed.

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

A lovely action and emotion-packed chapter there, as I create a ton of mystery concerning Alice. I was originally going to put the end bit in the next chapter, but I think it makes a nice ending and it's always good to have two friends at each others' throats, particularly literally.

I've only got one more chapter left that I'm able to do until it rests on some Book Seven plot elements, and it is going to be very interesting indeed.

Until next time…


	6. Bokomon

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the OCs in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise). Zach Strafer is the property of Fireblast123.

Thanks to Crazyeight for beta reading this chapter.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

**Stratagems**

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

_**CHAPTER 6**_

_Bokomon_

* * *

"_So, once again we escape and once again fate decides to blow us to kingdom come,"_ Zach thought with a frown, before looking up at Asuka above him, her feminine hands nonetheless tightly gripped around his neck. They tensed up even further at the sight of their doom, Zach choking as his windpipe became blocked. He spluttered, Asuka looking down and quickly removing her hands.

"Sorry," she mouthed. Zach nodded, reaching down to his D-Arc as it glowed with light. His other hand gripped a card, the boy praying to god that it was the right card. "Be quick," Asuka noted, knowing that even if Candlemon were to be digivolved or modified to be faster, it'd be unlikely that he would be able to defend them from so many opponents at once.

As Zach swiped the card through the D-Arc, both he and Asuka tightly closed their eyes, knowing it was all over, even if it was the right card. An electronic beep sounded, as the card failed to swipe correctly.

"_Wrong way up,"_ Zach thought glumly, accepting his unlucky fate.

"PYRO DARTS!" sounded from above all of a sudden, a wave of fiery bullets colliding with the various Artmon and knocking their blaster attacks off-target. They splattered across the sand, barely missing the humans and one collided mere centimetres from them. The pair of humans were thrown aside, each ending up on their backs breathing deeply to get over the shock, their hearts racing. "Leave these humans alone, you monsters!"

"Zach, he is a monster too. A Digital Monster," Candlemon pointed out, Zach groaning before looking across to a large red warrior standing determined as he glared as the Artmon. Zach didn't spend much time observing its form; other issues were far more pressing.

"Obviousmon, shut up so we can help!" Zach said, determination flashing across his eyes as he stood up, staring at the eyeless opponents with ferocity. "I'm sick of everyone dying because of you, and I won't let anyone else die at your hands! DIGI-MODIFY, Matrix Digivolution Activate!" Zach called, his D-Arc bursting into light.

**M-A-T-R-I-X**

**D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N**

**Candlemon Matrix Digivolve to…**

**Mummymon!**

"_Here we go again," _Zach thought, frowning as Mummymon raised Obelisk and fired away, as though his Tamer wasn't there.

"NECROPHOBIA!" he roared, the powerful blast shooting out and colliding with a trio of Artmon, their data quickly absorbed by the rest who prepared to attack again.

"Nice shot," complimented the fiery warrior. Mummymon merely chuckled, raising his other hand as the bandages flailed around them in readiness.

"SNAKE BANDAGE!" he called, the strips completely wrapping around one of the Artmon. He swept it to one side, it colliding and breaking through several fellow Artmon with ease as if it were a wrecking ball.

"My turn," the red warrior announced, looking at the remaining Artmon with a fierce and blazing glare. One hand rose as if it were holding a playing card, the other pointing exactly opposite to it. "PYRO TORNADO!" he called, flames bursting from the holes on his metallic gauntlets. Unlike with the darts, however, this time he began to spin, creating a huge fiery vortex that rose above and consumed the Artmon as it swept towards them, wiping their data into nothing but red exploding bursts of energy. Zach's and Asuka's eyes widened at the impressive sight, and even Mummymon, never one to compliment another's power, raised an eyebrow at the flash that illuminated the night desert around them.

Agunimon landed again, breathing a sigh of relief as the flame dissimilated before turning to face those he was protecting. "Are you all alright?" he asked, looking to the two children and the mummy-like Digimon with concern.

"Are you guys alright?" he asked. Zach glanced down, checking all his limbs were still in place. Apart from a large red strangling mark on his neck and rips in his clothes, he seemed fine enough.

"Yeah, I'm okay," he answered.

"That was pretty impressive," Asuka noted, still astounded by the attack.

"That was easy, but I'm disgusted by how these Artmon pick on the weak and vulnerable like that," the fiery warrior noted.

"They pick on _anyone_ Agunimon, haven't you worked that out by now?" Mummymon criticised, identifying the Digimon in the process. Then again, Zach was already well aware of what this Digimon was called: he'd seen Digimon Frontier, but he never expected to see a real one.

"I don't care, I still hate them," Agunimon said, frowning. Zach raised his emerald-green D-Arc to analyse the warrior.

"Agunimon, Unknown Type, Champion Level, attacks Pyro Darts, Pyro Tornado and Pyro Punch," Zach noted, reading off his screen as he saw Agunimon's image. "Huh? I don't know what's up with this thing, but I can tell you that he's Variable Type and at the H-Hybrid level," he noted, reading it with a bewildered grin. "This thing really is a piece of junk."

"At least yours still works," Asuka noted with a frown, lifting her navy D-Arc to her eye level. She shook it periodically, as if that would fix it, before returning the static-screened device to her side.

"Come on, we'll take you to the camp," Agunimon said, gesturing across the dimly-lit desert.

* * *

The rocky sand of the desert turned down and steep randomly as the humans and Digimon, Mummymon now back in his rookie form, headed towards it. Below it ran into a crater, not formed by any meteorite but by the mere oddity of land forming in the Digital World. As they stepped over the edge and looked down into the huge crater, they were forced to pause in amazement. Light suddenly swept across the Digital World as the day began, illuminating an amazing sight.

"This place is…huge," Asuka stuttered, looking at the large improvised camp below. A motley gathering of tents, small fires, resting Digimon and guard posts, surprisingly organised and with well-trodden routes in-between them, ranging from thin alleyways to thick boulevards in the sand. All kinds of Digimon gathered in the camp, from barely visible specks of baby Digimon to mega levels that could clearly be made out. The weakest seemed to congregate towards the centre, with mega level Digimon guarding the outside, ready to fire and protect the camp.

"This is the Camp of Survivors," Agunimon introduced. "It's probably one of many such camps in the Digital World, but we know little of any others, and I wouldn't hold your hopes up," he introduced, gesturing across the size of the camp.

"So…many…Digimon…" Zach gasped, soon going into "Digimon Fanboy" mode as he began to identify Digimon. "There's an Airdramon, and a SkullSatamon, and a Gomamon, a Dracmon, wow, look at how cool that EmperorGreymon looks! This place is awesome!" he rambled. Asuka rolled her eyebrows, looking over to their guide.

"So, how many Digimon are there here?" she asked curiously.

"No idea, but they just keep on coming," Agunimon answered. "The whole Digital World is in crisis, these Artmon are easy to take out on their own, but there are so many of them. Even mega levels have difficulty with beating them," he noted with a frown.

"It's the same in the real world," Asuka noted with a similar frown.

"I would love to get my hands on the bastard who created the Artmon," Zach said determinedly, his hands turning into fists.

"I'm right behind you on that buddy," Agunimon echoed. "He doesn't even have the courtesy of telling us who he is," he added, his hands also turning into fists.

"How do you know that they were created by someone?" Asuka asked curiously, raising an eyebrow.

"There was a message, broadcast across the Digital World. We all heard it, the sound was all-pervading," Agunimon answered, frowning as he looked down into the camp. "That was when it started," he finished grimly.

"So who runs this place?" Asuka asked curiously, as they began their descent into the crater along a well-worn path.

"We all do. As much as we may fight usually, we Digimon know exactly when to stop and band together," he explained, a proud smile on his face soon tinged as he continued his explanation. "That's why we are different from the Artmon. That is why they are not real Digimon," he added.

"Tell that to the guy controlling them," Zach added, the four descending into silence as they entered the camp and headed down one of its main paths, lined with a variety of Digimon.

"Wow, a human," a ToyAgumon noted, seeing the two humans and two Digimon pass them.

"Don't be silly, that's just a Manmon and Womon," a pink mouse-like Chuumon added.

"Really? They look human to me," ToyAgumon, an Agumon made from building blocks, noted.

"Idiots," a Koemon, a small green monkey-like Digimon, muttered.

"You will be able to shelter here as long as you need; everyone is putting rivalries aside for this," Agunimon noted, turning to face them as they reached the centre of the camp.

"Odd, I don't see any Renamon," Zach noted curiously, glancing around at the camp and noticing the absence of a type that was growing in prominence recently. Where were they?

"Hmm," Agunimon pondered, glancing around as Asuka and Candlemon did likewise. "You know, I hadn't noticed that," he added.

"Isn't that a bit…concerning?" Asuka asked. "A whole species of Digimon missing?" she added.

"Renamon and their evolutions tend to be very subtle, so ya'll shouldn't be surprised. They're probably just hiding from the Artmon, something I wish I could do too, but I'm just too pretty," added a new voice, a new form stepping from the crowd, another Legendary Warrior, Ranamon, a blue and green aquatic humanoid.

"Do you Legendary Warriors just hang out together or something?" Zach asked, an amazed look on his face.

"Not wanting to sound stupid sugar, but what's a Legendary Warrior?" Ranamon asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Ah, never mind," Zach answered, before raising his D-Arc. "Ranamon, Unknown…ahem…Variable Type, H-Hybrid Level, attacks Drainin' Rain and Dark Vapour," he dictated.

"Are you going to do that for every Digimon we see?" Asuka asked, raising an eyebrow at her companion.

"Yeah, why?" Zach asked. Asuka rolled her eyes.

"Never heard of sensitivity and tactfulness then," she muttered, Zach not hearing.

"So how did you find us in the first place Agunimon?" Candlemon asked curiously.

"The Artmon feel completely different to any other Digimon, we can sense them from a long distance away," the flame warrior noted. "And the same can be said for humans, along with the fact you made a loud thump when you hit the ground," he added with a smile.

"How'd you humans get here anyhow?" Ranamon asked, raising an eyebrow at the pair of humans.

Asuka frowned, contemplating the girl who had helped them to escape despite clearly losing her own life soon after.

* * *

"One second," she procrastinated, turning her screen around to face the centre of the lobby. "Move," she whispered, Zach and Asuka creeping aside. "Now, I'm sorry, but this is going to make a lot of noise," she said, clicking the mouse as the screen glowed. It bulged, energy flowing off it and beginning to settle in the centre of the room, warping reality around it as the other three stared on in shock. Alice frowned, noticing how it wasn't working. She held the gun to a part of the still-opened computer tower, pressing it and disintegrating a component that was restricting power use. Suddenly, waves of data pulsed out of the screen, generating a surprising sight in the centre of the hotel floor.

"A portal?!" Zach questioned, having seen the odd anomaly in pictures on Digital Watch many a time. Asuka was similarly surprised, but Alice looked with a frown towards the window, a series of Artmon approaching.

"They're coming," she noted forebodingly, standing up from the desk and standing behind Asuka, Zach and Candlemon. "You have to go to the Digital World!" she insisted.

* * *

Asuka pushed the thoughts out of the way, frowning. "We had some help," she noted, Ranamon realising that it clearly wasn't worth pushing the point.

"So, you've seen both. Where is it better then? Here or there?" Agunimon asked, changing the subject somewhat.

"Agunimon, that's not tactful at all," another Digimon said, stepping forth from the shadows and the crowd into view, as Zach added further to his "they're all Legendary Warriors" theory. The figure was a bipedal warrior Digimon, taller than the other two "Legendary Warriors" with him, and seemingly from the Garurumon family. "Cool, a Beowolfmon," Zach noted, the wolf looking to him curiously.

"Yes? How do you know my name?" Lobomon asked in concern, gripping a hand into a fist around his golden dual-bladed sword. This could be trouble.

"Erm…" Zach mumbled.

"He's a fan of Digimon, that's all," Asuka covered for him, smiling lightly. Zach nodded in thanks, raising his D-Arc. He didn't want to have to explain that in a TV series, these Digimon were all affiliated with one another - that could get very confusing for them.

"Beowolfmon, Variable Type, F-Hybrid Level, attacks Frozen Hunter and Cleansing Light," he read, eyes still wide in amazement. "Wow, this place is packed with cool Digimon," he commented, looking around at the thousands of Digimon swarmed in the camp.

"How can we help out?" Asuka asked curiously.

"Do you have a Digimon partner?" Beowolfmon asked curiously, before regretting the question as a look of sadness crossed the human girl's features, her head shaken in response. "I see," he noted.

"That's no problem darling; you can help out in the medical tents," Ranamon suggested.

"Yeah, this place needs all the help it can get," Agunimon added, before looking to Zach and Candlemon. "And what about you? You want to fight alongside us?" he asked.

Zach punched one fist into the palm of his other hand, mirroring the gesture of one of his heroes from the television show: Marcus Damon. "Bring it on," he taunted eagerly.

"Oh brother," Asuka muttered.

* * *

"I think that's done," Asuka said, tearing the end of a bandage having finished wrapping it around the Digimon's creamy-white wrist, the Digimon wincing in pain during the process. "You should be good as new in no time," she said, the Digimon nodding in response. "Sorry it hurt a bit, I haven't done this before," she added uncomfortably, as the Digimon stepped down, turning to her.

"Thank you muchly, you have no idea how much that hurt, erm, girl," the Digimon said, looking to her through his large black eyes. Its short body featured an odd pointy head, small pointed ears, small grey clawed hands and feet, a grey bit of "stubble" around its mouth, and, most oddly and bizarrely of all, a slightly bulging pink haramaki, a Japanese body warmer, around his stomach. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name?" he asked, his voice polite yet slightly goofy all the same.

"Oh, I'm Asuka Kumiko," the girl replied with a smile.

"Greetings," the Digimon replied. "I am Bokomon, keeper of The Book," he introduced himself, although Asuka was already well aware of this particular Digimon's species.

"The book?" she asked. Wasn't that just in the television series? Oddly, he reached inside the haramaki, pulling out a large old brown book.

"_Okay, Digimon are just weird at times," _Asuka pondered, reaching out to take the book. She took the volume curiously in her hands, noting its worn texture and missing edges in places. She placed her finger under the cover, gently opening it. She raised an eyebrow in bewilderment, before continuing to flick through the book, rather quicker than someone who was actually reading it.

A look of shame grew on Bokomon's face as she did so, a smile replaced by a frown.

She lifted the book up when she reached the end, turning it round to show him. "Um, is it meant to be blank?" she asked.

"Well, you see, I was meant to write of great legends and adventures in it, but I…haven't had any yet," he replied uncomfortably, mumbling the last part. Asuka smiled, it was amusing to see how certain Digimon presumed themselves for certain roles. "Ahem, do you know of any great legends or adventures I could write?" he asked curiously.

"Well…" she pondered, placing her hand on her chin and her finger on the corner of her mouth as she looked to the roof of the tent for inspiration, before mentally slapping herself on the forehead as an idea came to her. "Yeah, I do, but I don't think it's the kind of thing that you'd want to write in a book like that."

"Huh, why ever not?" he asked, confused.

"Well, it's a bit dark, depressing and downright miserable at times," she answered.

"Please, tell me of this story," he asked, eager about the idea despite Asuka's wariness.

Asuka frowned, sighing and nodding as she thought back through the past two days. "Fine," she answered. "It started two days ago, when my partner and I were walking through Tokyo. Tokyo's this big city in the human world…"

"Aha, like the City of Domain," Bokomon noted, catching onto the idea that Asuka was suggesting.

"Yeah, whatever that is. Anyway, I was a Tamer, a person who has a Digimon partner who has decided to protect the worlds from all things evil," she said, a glum smile staying on her face.

"A gallant hero fighting for the justice of good!" Bokomon said, scribbling things down in his book as she said it.

"Yeah, something like that," Asuka replied, a frown still on her face. "My partner was a Hawkmon, and he was the best Digimon I could ever hope for. We were the best of friends, and we were always looking out for one another," she said, saddened by the memories.

"You say that as if he has passed?" Bokomon asked, looking curiously into Asuka's eyes. She didn't speak, a saddened look staying on her face and telling Bokomon all he needed to know. "Oh…" he mumbled, his pencil stopping as he realised he'd pressed on a rather sensitive issue. "What happened?" he asked.

"There was this evil guy…the guy controlling the Artmon. On that day, we heard the voice when walking down the street, from everything with a speaker, even stuff that wasn't connected to anything," she said sadly. "I'm sure you know what the message was," she noted. Bokomon nodded.

"Yes, we all do," he answered.

"Anyway, straight after the message, there's a flurry of Artmon out of the area. We're horrified, but I realise that we have to fight and digivolve Hawkmon to Aquilamon. We defeat a few of the Artmon, but I see this kid, injured already and his partner paralysed. He's about to become a victim, so Aquilamon and I race towards him and I push him to the ground. But they changed targets, they went for Aquilamon instead, and…" she snivelled, tears building in her eyes as she sobbed.

"I see," Bokomon said, not sure how to respond to or help with the intense emotions the human girl was experiencing.

"The next while was a blur, I was so upset I was almost paralysed myself. This kid I saved, who I later found was called Zach…he and his partner, a Candlemon, helped me away, and we escaped. But, I realised, my parents could be dead by now…and he stopped me from going back to save them. At the time I hated him…not knowing why he was stopping me, but…"

* * *

"I am not losing you," he insisted. "You have lost so much, you have to survive!" Zach insisted, Alice nodding in agreement.

* * *

"…he didn't want me to be killed too. We'd both seen so much death, I'd never even seen a human die before. And…we soon saw more death, these soldiers…" she began, before noticing the bewildered look on Bokomon's face. "…um…these humans with guns and fighting training and all…they helped us out, but then they were killed, so we had to go on the run again. We got supplies from a café…um…a food serving place, but then we were cornered again," she said, a slim smile coming onto her face as she remembered their saviour. "But this woman, Alice McCoy, she saved us with this odd weapon. It literally took the Artmon out of existence, it was amazing. But…she seemed a bit secretive, and to this day I have no idea why. She helped us get to a hotel…um, a place where there are beds we could sleep in for the night…"

"Yes, we have those in the Digital World too," Bokomon noted, recalling his visits to the grand city of Domain.

"Yeah, well, somehow, she managed to get electricity in the building to power everything despite the fact all the power stations were shut down. And we stayed there overnight, but then…in the morning, it was so quiet, and Zach and I went downstairs. The Artmon were outside, and Alice was telling us to be quiet while she created a portal for us to escape to the Digital World. I have no idea how she made it, but…she didn't come with us. I pleaded for her to follow, knowing she'd be killed otherwise, but for some reason she stayed behind while Zach had to forcibly pull me through the portal. I really hope she's alive, but…I know she's probably dead," she said pessimistically, looking down at the ground as Bokomon continued to write, not sure whether he was being sensitive in doing so or not. "And when we arrived, Zach and I had a fight. I hated him for having let Alice stay alone and die, but then…then we were confronted by some Artmon, but an Agunimon saved us, and brought us here," she said, finishing her recount. _"At least I got that off my chest," _she thought, frowning. She knew that it wouldn't help alleviate things - it was still a helluva lot of emotional trauma that she knew would stick with her for the rest of her life: as short as that would probably be. She knew that Zach, albeit he not having lost his partner, would likewise be harshly affected.

Bokomon was suddenly bawling his eyes out. "That is the saddest story I have ever heard!" he cried, far more exaggerated than a normal being would cry, seas of tears flying out.

"O…kay," Asuka mumbled, watching in bewilderment and yet with a sense of awe as well.

* * *

"Boss," Mummymon hissed. "This is boring, where are our opponents?" he asked, looking around at the harsh desert in irritation. Zach sighed, looking up to his snake-like partner.

"We'll find some soon enough, just chill," he told his partner.

"Why do you want to fight all the time?" Beowolfmon asked the mummy, concern in his voice.

"Because fighting is fun!" Mummymon cheered darkly, bringing out looks of disgust from Agunimon, Beowolfmon, a MetalGreymon and a d'Arcmon, a female bird-like humanoid with four wings, a pair of swords at her waist and light military armour on her form, which constituted their party.

"You'll have to excuse him, he changes so much in his different forms," Zach said, a slight grin coming to his face. "At least he's powerful, even if his aim isn't quite up to scratch," he added, looking to his partner who glared at him.

"My aim is perfect, it's my opponents moving that are the problem," Mummymon answered.

"Such an idiot," d'Arcmon said with a frown.

"I sense an enemy, approaching from the west," MetalGreymon said, turning his bulk to face a group of black spots approaching in the distance. Agunimon and Beowolfmon leapt forward in front, determination burning in their eyes and showing they were ready for battle, whilst d'Arcmon leapt over and landed on MetalGreymon's metallic head, brandishing her sword ready for battle. Contrasting with the organised display, Mummymon simply ran forward towards the Artmon on his own, brandishing Obelisk in readiness for battle.

"Mwahhaha," he laughed, firing the weapon. "NECROPHOBIA!" he growled, blasts of electricity burning out the first of a few dozen Artmon.

"What is he doing?!" Agunimon asked, surprised by the actions of their supposed "team" member.

"Mummymon, come back here!" Zach called, irritated by the usual actions of his partner.

"No, this is fun!" Mummymon roared happily, firing off his weapon again as the five dozen Artmon surrounded him. "NECROPHOBIA!" he roared, taking out several. The others prepared to fire, cocking their cannons. He laughed, leaping back over them and landing behind.

Unfortunately, one of them turned faster than him, firing a blast into his chest and sending him hissing across the desert floor in pain.

"Mummymon!" Zach called, running over to his injured partner fearfully.

"Attack!" Agunimon called, his improvised band of fighters readying their attacks.

A pair of fish-like missiles prepared themselves as a chest-plate on MetalGreymon opened. "GIGA BLASTER!" he growled, the missiles shooting forward rapidly. They collided with the ground beneath the Artmon, scattering them and tilting them off course. As they began to regain their control, d''Arcmon and Beowolfmon leapt forward, preparing their own deadly attacks.

"FROZEN HUNTER!" Beowolfmon bawled, a huge blue wolf of fire bursting from his twin bladed sword upwards. He leapt forward along with it, the pair bursting through a dozen or so Artmon and turning them into little more than spare data - data which the rest were quick to absorb and use to regain their concentration.

"BAPTÊME D'ARMOUR!" d'Arcmon shrieked, flying forward and slashing her pair of swords, the Puissance De La Pucelle, around, slicing several Artmon in two. She landed beyond them gracefully as they burst into data.

"Are you okay Mummymon?" Zach asked.

"Fight!" he roared, standing and raising Obelisk once again. "NECROPHOBIA!" he roared, the blast screeching across the battlefield. The Artmon suddenly dodged, d''Arcmon screaming in pain as the electric blast smashed into her back, racing through the swords and throwing her to the ground.

"d'Arcmon!" MetalGreymon called, as the Digimon fell flat on the ground.

"Mummymon!" Zach yelled at his partner, who continued to grin in amusement. "LISTEN TO ME!" he added.

"No!" the mummy answered, grasping Obelisk once again and leaping forward at the Artmon.

"You asked for it then," Zach muttered, executing a plan he hoped he'd never have to carry out. "DIGI-MODIFY…Susanoomon Activate!" he said, slashing the powerful mega level's card through his D-Arc, the screen blazing ferociously with golden light as the energy rushed into his partner.

Mummymon smirked, raising his arms and landing on the ground. The other Digimon looked at Zach in horror: why give an already out-of-control Digimon even more power?

"HEAVEN'S THUN…" Mummymon began, before he started to crack under the force of all the energy. His now-golden form shuddered, attracting the attention of several Artmon, who fired shots into it.

That was enough to send Candlemon spiralling down below, Zach breathing a deep sigh of relief before running to retrieve him.

"Now it's my turn!" Agunimon declared, repeating a gesture familiar to Zach from earlier, flames twisting around into a vortex. "PYRO TORNADO!" he roared, spiralling towards their robotic foes and consuming them in a blaze of searing heat, which wiped them from the face of the Digital World. He landed, relieved that it was all over, before they all turned to face their human companion and his chaotic partner.

"Are you okay d'Arcmon?" MetalGreymon asked, looking to his warrior companion. D'Arcmon turned, glaring at Candlemon as she spoke.

"I'm fine," she answered, before raising a sword to point at Candlemon. "But that monster is out of control!" she decreed.

"Yeah, what's wrong with him?" Beowolfmon asked. Zach glanced to Candlemon, frowning as Candlemon looked back innocently.

No-one saw a solitary Artmon, silently creeping away, it's top open and a dish spread out, transmitting a message far and wide…

* * *

"I have never been more disgusted in my life," Zach spat, striding angrily through the Camp of Survivors as Candlemon struggled to keep up.

"But Zach…" Candlemon began.

"But you know what the worst thing is?" Zach interrupted, stopping to glare at his partner. "I don't think I can ever trust you again now!" he argued.

"I didn't mean it," Candlemon whimpered.

"You sure as hell did Candlemon!" Zach scolded, pointing a finger. "You could've killed d'Arcmon!" he spat. "I hate you as Mummymon, why was I landed with a partner who doesn't even listen to me? Sure, some other people get this kind of crap in their partner's first digivolve, but this is all the flipping time!"

"I'll be better next time, I promise," Candlemon pleaded. Why was Zach pursuing the point like this? He was a different Digimon as Mummymon, but they were still partners! Why couldn't Zach see that?!

"Candlemon, there isn't going to be a next time. I am never digivolving you to Mummymon ever again!" he declared.

Candlemon frowned, looking sadly down at the ground as they continued to hop and walk in silence, the light swept over by the darkness as the night began.

* * *

"And this is the infamous Zach," Asuka introduced as soon as Zach stepped into the medical tent, a smile on her face completely contrasting with his completely peeved off expression.

"Wow, it's such an honour to meet such a proud warrior!" Bokomon cheered, Zach looking down to him curiously and raising an eyebrow.

"Hmm," he pondered, lifting out his D-Arc and pointing it at Bokomon, but no data came up. "What the hell?" he asked, before seeing that Candlemon was covering his eyes. "Candlemon, look at him," he ordered.

"No," Candlemon replied. "You don't trust me in anything, so why should I help you?" he spat, hands still over his eyes as he refused to aid his Tamer.

"Ugh, I hate you!" Zach spat, before turning and storming away out of the tent.

"Zach doesn't like Candlemon," Candlemon pointed out. "Well then, Candlemon doesn't like Zach either!" he yelled, hopping out in the other direction. Bokomon and Asuka, eyebrows risen, turned to face each other.

"Whatever was that about?" Bokomon asked, confused by how the reality of Zach and Candlemon contrasted with the story of Zach and Candlemon.

"Beats me," Asuka pondered, with a frown, before she stood up. "I better go talk to him," she decided, leaving the tent and heading in Zach's direction.

* * *

Zach wandered down the paths, storming past various open fires set up by a number of Digimon to both keep them warm and light up the darkness. The fires were flickered by the wind created by Zach's storming, before a voice interrupted him

"Okay," Asuka said, Zach turning to see the girl with her hands firmly set on her hips. "What happened this time?" she asked.

"He went berserk again, but I don't really want to talk about it," Zach answered, frowning. "Ask Agunimon if you really want to know," he added, turning and continuing to walk away. Asuka frowned, before her expression tightened into anger.

"At least you have a partner!" she yelled. Zach turned, a sharp, angered look on his face.

"You dole out the same old lines again and again," he said harshly, glaring at her.

"What?" she asked, surprised at his insensitivity and tactlessness.

"We've given you endless sympathy, and you don't seem to move on at all. How the hell do you expect to survive if you can't go a minute without telling everyone about poor, poor Hawkmon?"

"How can you say that?!"

"We've got problems right now that are bigger. I'm sorry if this is bursting your bubble, but the world isn't going to stop to let you lay back and cry. Hell, if I wasn't even here to snap you out of it, you'd be dead by now," he argued.

An uncomfortable silence fell, Asuka's eyes tilting down to the ground sadly, tears welling in her eyes.

"Now for once, why don't _you_ leave _me_ alone," Zach finished, before turning and walking away from the girl.

Asuka's hand gripped into a fist, anger crossing her face. "Bastard," she muttered.

* * *

"Good, you're back, how is he?" Bokomon asked enthusiastically when the girl returned to the tent.

"Don't even mention him," she cursed in response, falling down on one of the medical beds left around the tent and sighing in irritation as she wiped the remnants of a tear from her eyes.

"_My, humans don't get on very well," _Bokomon contemplated, frowning and sighing as he walked outside the tent and looked up at the Earth orb hanging high above. "So far away," he noted, as one of the data streams pouring out of it switched off. He frowned at the sight; things were clearly as bad there as they were in the Digital World.

Suddenly, a black blot blurred across his vision rapidly. A siren began to sound.

And all hell broke out.

* * *

"Run, it's the Artmon!" a Gazimon shrieked, creating mass panic as the sirens began to blare out across the camp. Zach looked with worry down at the various rookie levels pouring past his legs, his anger periodically evaporating as fear set in. He looked up, seeing several black dots crossing the bright light from the Earth orb, growing in frequency rapidly.

"_Great," _he thought sardonically, remembering his current situation with Candlemon, before he did an about-turn, racing back towards the tent.

* * *

"Artmon are attacking!" Bokomon blurted, bursting back into the tent. Asuka's eyes widened in horror as she began to hear the alarms sounding across the camp, and the screams and explosions as the attack began. A cannon blast tore through one of the walls, smashing into the ground a way away along the tent. Asuka stared on, terrified, as a Gekomon became little more than flecks in her vision, before his data gravitated out the hole in the makeshift tent.

"_That was…horrible…" _she thought, her mind racing through the gravity of their situation yet her feet stayed firmly put.

"Asuka, what do we do?" Bokomon asked, his voice thickened by alarm. Asuka, as if by instinct, clutched her D-Arc, holding it out, but all that was displayed was static. She let out a growl of irritation, both at herself and at the way events had been unfolding as of late.

"Ugh, where's Zach when you need him?" she thought, turning to walk towards the doorway but stopping in her tracks when it exploded in her face, the loose material of the tent flapping as it began to sag down. She turned, seeing a dozen or so rookie and in-training level patients, along with Bokomon, all trying to escape. Bokomon paused to look at her for guidance, whilst the other patients raced towards the other exit. "Stop!" she called, but it was too late.

A Gomamon, a Gazimon, two Gekomon, an Otamamon, a Koromon, a Neemon, a DemiVeemon, a DemiMeramon, a Kamemon, a Kotemon, a Strabimon and a Penguinmon, all burst into shards of data as a blast ripped through the tent.

Asuka felt fit to cry as her "patients" vanished before her eyes. She looked down to Bokomon, similar tears threatening to block his vision as well.

Only the sound of more explosions and a resounding crack snapped her back to reality, as the large greenish tent began to break its remaining supports topple down on them. Her first instinct was to run, but her mind alerted her to an alternative.

"Get down!" she ordered, pushing both herself and Bokomon to the ground, the tent fabric falling down on top of them, the metal poles holding it up thankfully missing them as they fell.

"What are we doing?" Bokomon asked, his voice muffled by the tent's fabric and the dirt they had kicked up as they skidded to the ground. He coughed, wiping his eyes clear with his haramaki.

"Cover," Asuka answered, crawling under the fabric to the edge of the tent. _"Please don't see me!" _she pleaded, sticking her head out under the edge to see the horrendous slaughter now encompassing the camp. Screams filled the air, both deep roars and high squeals, and data flowed upwards to a group of unmoving Artmon in the centre, allowing the rest to clean up the survivors of the Camp of Survivors attack.

"We're screwed, aren't we?" Bokomon asked, sighing as he contemplated how even the legendary exploits of these two human's he had met couldn't defend them now. Even with the flames and assorted battle effects filling the air as the more powerful Digimon fought back, the sheer number of Artmon told them all they needed to know: this battle was a sure-win for the enemy.

* * *

"Great, of all the bloody times," Zach contemplated, vaulting over a felled tent pole as he ran through the remains of the camp, his trainers pounding against the disturbed sand and his eyes occasionally glancing over to the battle raging between the more powerful Digimon and the horde of Artmon. He wished he could fight beside them, but he had something else to attend to first. He looked back down to the compass on his D-Arc, quickening his pace.

* * *

Candlemon barely dodged a cannon blast, crashing to the ground up against a pile of wood. The Artmon floated over him, not even gloating about his victory. Not that they could, anyway. The cannon port rapidly reloaded.

"LAVA LOOGIE!"

Candlemon grinned weakly, a meagre flame tossed from his flame tip and shooting towards the Artmon. It collided, but the Artmon didn't seem remotely effected. It fired, Candlemon turning slightly to the side and being thrown off the log pile, by now realising that getting up again would be a challenge. The Artmon adjusted its aim, Candlemon preparing to accept his fate.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to him, as he focused on the log pile.

"LAVA LOOGIE!" he yelled again, but this time aiming for the logs, which quickly burst into flames. The Artmon paused to reappraise the situation, and this proved the perfect chance for Candlemon to act. He grasped a log, tossing it at the Artmon. As the log dented the edge of the Artmon, Candlemon made no hesitation in sending the rest in the mechanoid Digimon's direction. Although unlikely to defeat it, Candlemon knew he needed all the time he could get. "Take that!" he taunted, enjoying his final moments.

His joy was short lived though, as the Artmon shot one of the logs out of mid-air.

"It was fun while it lasted," Candlemon sighed, as the Artmon once again began to fire.

"Leave him alone!" Zach shrieked, leaping at the Artmon and smashing it to the ground with his fist. A smile crossed the weakened Candlemon's face at the sight of his Tamer, Zach nodding in response.

"Boss' punch looked like Marcus Damon," Candlemon pointed out.

The Artmon adjusted itself, spinning to see Zach and Candlemon again. If it had emotions, it would be surprised, but it saw this as a mere unexpected variable in the tactics.

"That was sort of what I intended," Zach answered, grinning as he gripped his D-Arc, twisting a card through his fingers as he glared at the Artmon. "But he can't do this!" he said, swiping the card through. "DIGI-MODIFY…Recharge Activate!" he called, Candlemon pushing himself to his feet as energy surged through his form. He made no hesitation in attacking, as a ball of magma appeared in his hand.

"FLAME BOMBER!" he called, the ball tossed at and colliding with the Artmon, who burst into data as it impacted the cracks on his armour.

"Quick, absorb it!" Zach ordered, but was too late. The data shot upwards, before being absorbed by the central group of Artmon above. Zach growled in irritation, outstretching a finger to point at the group. "Next target!" he said.

"Mummymon?" Candlemon asked pleadingly.

"No, there are way too many innocent Digimon here, and if you were to go on a rampage that'd make you as bad as the Artmon. I can't trust you, sorry," he said with a frown, grasping a card in his hand.

"Fine boss," Candlemon sighed, as Zach swiped the card.

"DIGI-MODIFY…Digivolution Activate!" he called.

**D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N**

* * *

"It's Wizardmon!" Asuka said in surprise, her voice but a whisper as a blue and brown figure levitated through the fire-lit darkness towards the central group of Artmon above. Bokomon looked on in a mix of surprise and amazement, smiling widely. They had hope yet!

"Hooray!" he exclaimed.

"THUNDER CLOUD!" Wizardmon called, his sceptre held out as a dark thunder cloud appeared over the Artmon. A trio of lightning bolts struck out from it, smashing into each of the three Artmon which sparked, allowing Wizardmon the chance to get another attack in. As events turned out, he didn't have to.

"ELECTRON CANNON!" roared a voice, a high velocity blast shooting out from the city and smashing through the three Artmon. They burst into a huge amount data, which scattered out amongst the camp, Asuka grinning widely at the sight. Along the disturbed sand path through the camp, a familiar blue sight from the TV show, MetalKabuterimon, cheered at the win.

It was to be a short lived one, unfortunately, as the whole group of Artmon converged on MetalKabuterimon. The beast looked about in surprise, but didn't have any chance to speak. His data rushed into the air with a booming quake. Asuka weakly put her hand out in surprise, not believing what she had just seen.

"No!" she called, perhaps a mistake. The data gathered once again, into three more Artmon, who took to the air, shooting a few blasts at Wizardmon in the process. Wizardmon dodged, but was horrified to see these Artmon taking on basically the exact same role as the previous one. Asuka frowned, it really was hopeless.

"Look out!" Bokomon shouted, Asuka tilting her head to see several Artmon posed over her, ready to attack.

"PYRO TORNADO!" roared a voice, as a flaming vortex screeched through them, their data soon being absorbed by the trio in the sky. Agunimon came to a stand again, looking down on the girl and the creamy-white Digimon.

"You okay?" he asked them, their heads peeking out under the green fabric like children hidden under a quilt.

"Yeah, thanks," Asuka answered. Beowolfmon landed next to Agunimon, concerned looks crossing their faces.

"There are too many of them! All the mega levels are already dead!" he said, his eyes thick with alarm. They were losing, and there was nothing they could do.

Asuka wasted no time, instead standing up and running in the direction she had seen Wizardmon go from. She had to find Zach: they had to get out of there! She heard footsteps pounding behind frantically, Asuka knowing Bokomon was there too. Unfortunately, so was something else.

"Look out!" Agunimon called, leaping in the way of a volley of Artmon blasts, which collided with his back instead. He screeched to the ground, his data shaking.

"Agunimon!" Asuka screamed, appalled by how many of her friends were being killed. She wanted to lie down and cry, she wanted the warm embrace of her mother, reassuring her that everything was alright. Hell, she wanted an Omnimon, or an Imperialdramon Paladin Mode, to appear at that very moment and save their lives. But there wouldn't be. This wasn't the TV show: there was nothing keeping her alive. No character shield to save her at the last moment. She bent down over Agunimon, hoping she could do something to save him.

"As…" he began, stopped as a cannon blast tore straight through his head, his data thrown into the air like inverted confetti around the distraught girl. Her tear-laden eyes widened, as Beowolfmon raised a hand, both as weak and as late as each other to stop the tragedy.

The data streamed upwards, flowing into the Artmon above.

"Agunimon!" Zach called, running out of the darkness over to where the Legendary Warrior of Fire had once been, no trace remaining of his presence. He paused in horror, looking down at the space for a while.

"He…he didn't even get any last words," Asuka said monotonously, both staring at the same sight. Tears welled in her eyes, as Zach glanced to her, an arm going around her shoulder in fake reassurance.

"_Maybe with Mummymon," _Zach's mind nagged, but he knew otherwise. Even with Mummymon, this battle was still lost: there were just too many of them. Asuka was going to die. Candlemon was going to die. _He_ was going to die.

As if hearing his words and accepting them, the body of Candlemon smashed to the ground nearby, Zach and Asuka turning in horror to see the once-again weakened form. Zach's feet pounded against the floor as he ran over to the ornamental Digimon, desperate to prevent another situation like Agunimon. He skidded to the ground, bending down over his partner.

"No!" he pleaded. "Candlemon, you can't die!" he insisted, as Candlemon's data flickered, his flame lightening and shrinking. This couldn't be happening! Zach's mind insisted that it wasn't so, but this was all too real not to believe it.

"Candlemon…is…sorry," Candlemon stated weakly.

"No, I'm sorry," Zach replied, tears coming to his eyes and dripping down his cheeks. "I didn't trust you…we're partners…we have to trust each other…"

"I…know…"

"Then please don't go…we'll do better this time, I promise…"

"Ugh…" Candlemon groaned, his eyes narrowing as his grip on reality weakened.

"CANDLEMON!" Zach screamed, his D-Arc reacting with a bright light that enveloped the pair of them.

"_Wow…" _Asuka thought in amazement, her tears stopping from sheer awe as she was forced to cover her eyes.

**B-I-O-M-E-R-G-E**

**D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N**

**Candlemon Biomerge Digivolve to…**

Zach felt a closer bond with his partner than ever before, as he fell back onto the ornamental Digimon's form. Sparks flicked between them, binding their data together as they were enveloped in a bright flash. Candlemon flashed through all his forms, through Wizardmon, through Mummymon, into a new even more mummy-like form. The data began to mirror it, gold armour flashing up and down as Pharohmon began to be reborn. Zach's eyes moved behind Candlemon's, as…

All hell broke loose.

A thousand Artmon blasts struck the form in the middle of digivolving, clearly having no sense of timing or dramatic moments. Asuka's eyes widened in shock as the light blurred, dying down before suddenly and horrifically being torn to pieces in front of her, less than a pair of metres from where she stood. The gold data flew out into the air around her, passing around her form as her mouth gaped open. Beowolfmon had nothing to say, neither did Bokomon. In fact, the whole camp was silent, although that could be for more sinister reasons.

The data began to float upwards, nothing left behind in its place. No body, no digi-egg, nothing but an emerald green D-Arc dropping into the sand below.

Only Asuka said anything, although it was little more than a murmur.

"…Zach…"

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

I think that speaks for itself. This has been planned from the start, before you all think I just killed off Zach randomly so soon. Things are about to get even bleaker for our heroes, but unfortunately the next chapter will have to wait for Book Seven to be in progress. If I get really eager to write, I may publish it early (since it may not spoil too much), but trust me, if you were shocked by this ending, the next cliff-hanger will make your eyes widen so far your eyeballs pop out. Or something like that, but less horrific.

Until next time…


	7. Renardmon

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Digimon, but I do own the OCs in this story (except where stated on the first chapter and subsequent chapters). Zach Strafer is the property of Fireblast123.

**A/N: **Thanks to Crazyeight for beta reading this chapter. **I've decided to rewrite Chapters 7 and 8 (the latter was finished but not published) to keep them up to date with new things in Book Seven as well as to improve the writing style, also giving readers the chance to catch up with what Stratagems is all about since it's been quite a while since my last update. With that, however, comes a major point:**

**DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER UNLESS YOU HAVE READ UP TO (AND COMPLETED) AT LEAST CHAPTER 30 OF BOOK SEVEN OR YOU WILL SUFFER FROM MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.**

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

**Stratagems**

_By Blazing Chaos_

* * *

_**CHAPTER SEVEN**_

_Renardmon_

* * *

**30****th**** August 2026**

* * *

The glinted data blurred in her eyes, spreading like water out across them in a manner more horrifying than any horror movie. No guts, no gore, just…dots. An infinitesimal number of specks, occasionally blurring and merging to make a larger one but ultimately breaking further and further apart, floated before her.

This was Zach. This _was_ Zach. Zach Strafer, the kid she had met only a few days before.

And he as dead. As was his partner, Candlemon. The data in front of them made no distinction between about whom each bit belonged to. It simply hung in the air, mocking her. Perhaps time had slowed? Or perhaps the horror of seeing a death had slowed her perceptions?

After all, he couldn't be dead. He just couldn't. Things like that only happened in movies, and they were the good guys, so only a sadistic writer would kill them off…right? They had to survive. They had to get out of this together!

Alice, the hotel, running from the Artmon, the soldiers, landing in this village…she couldn't be the only one who would ever remember it all!

Her life kept taking everyone she loved, anyone she even tried to love. She'd lost contact with her parents, seen Alice vanish into nothing while Zach dragged her back into this hellhole…and now he was dead. Hawkmon was dead.

Everything she knew was being systematically ripped to pieces. Next would be Bokomon...she'd met him now, it was the only way things could end. And then fate would kill her…slowly…painfully…excruciatingly. It had done so this far…why would it stop? Everyone she met, she seemed to sign a death warrant for. Her hands tightened into fists, wanting to be angry at herself, wanting to take their pain and have them return to life. But she knew it was hopeless. It wasn't her fault…she didn't even have any control over the situation. Without a partner, she was useless.

It was all so wrong. No-one was meant to die while digivolving! It just…didn't happen! It was wrong! It was…taboo!

But the Artmon didn't have a sense of taboo. Hell, she wouldn't be surprised if they had been _programmed_ to attack during biomerging, particularly the first. A new digivolution almost always meant a sure-win for the heroes…she'd seen that happen in real life and on the Digimon TV show so many times. The Artmon and their mysterious Lord and Master were clearly well aware of that.

That bastard. Thanks to him…her entire life was gone. Partner, parents, home, and even those random people who had come to save her in her hours of need that seemed more and more plentiful as of late.

It felt like a waste too. Her partner had died to save Zach and Candlemon: now they themselves were floating in the air around her. All that heroism, all that effort to protect her, had gone to naught. Zach had risked his life to defend her, and now he had died for it.

It took a tear to silently splutter on the unforgiving dirt for time to resume its normal pace with a cacophonic rush of sound to Asuka's ears.

"They're going to absorb the data!" Beowolfmon's horrified and angry voice covered his helplessness to prevent events unfolding. What was he meant to do, absorb it? They would lose him…no Digimon he knew had ever been split from such a move. Why would a human be any different?

Asuka's eyes widened as she saw an even worse sight, despite her mind telling her there couldn't be one. The data now flowed swiftly towards the Artmon…there was no body…that was all that remained of Zach!

Maybe they could save him? Maybe they could get the data, split it off, and remake him? It didn't have to be hopeless.

But how could they? A few seconds and it would be all over: the data absorbed by an unnatural being. Hell, even if it were to be absorbed by Beowolfmon or Bokomon, what were they to do? Even if they weren't subsequently killed and the data lost forever, how were they meant to split it out? If that were ever possible in history, it certainly wasn't now, right in the middle of a war with the only remote hope for humanity supposedly incapacitated: a euphemism for dead no doubt.

There was a golden flow of hope, however.

"BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE!"

Asuka twisted to face Bokomon, the tiny Digimon holding his book out wide in front of him, the pages glowing as gold as the aura radiating from it to encompass the data around them. As if magnetised, every speck twisted and flew towards it.

Bokomon grated his teeth against it, the little guy putting a lot of effort in for his heroic act, and in a brief moment a nod of thanks passed from Asuka to him. This was not going to save him now but…maybe…just maybe…

The book slammed closed, and Asuka sank to her knees.

It was hopeless. Everyone was dying.

An emerald green loop on the ground caught her eye, and she reached out to grab his D-Arc, half-buried in the sand. Pulling it to her eye with a hand clutched so tight, she found a blank screen. No static like hers, no glow like a normal D-Arc. Just dead.

"It's not over yet."

Beowolfmon's warning made Asuka stand up, unconsciously clipping Zach's D-Arc onto her belt opposite to hers as she did so. Her arms tensed up, her hairs still on end. The Artmon had been tactically surprised by the bizarre sight, but as Bokomon breathed deeply to recover his strength, it was clear that this battle was far from over.

What was altogether more terrifying, however, was that Asuka quickly realised she was wrong. The soundtrack of screams from the village around her was broken, and the eerie silence was ended only by Beowolfmon saying a few more words to her in his gravelly tone.

"You have to run, now!"

"Come on then!" Asuka wasn't naïve, she knew what he meant. She just didn't want him to do so.

"Asuka, they will rip you to pieces," Beowolfmon began, drawing his sword. "You have to survive…this camp is all about fighting to save the majority, and with Bokomon and Zach and Candlemon's data with you, you are the majority!" He paused, sword in hand and his body battle-prone. "I'm sorry…"

He leapt forward as Asuka opened her mouth, a heap of dust rushing in from the fast movement and muffling her attempt to say "but". The swarm of sand shrouded her eyes, letting an image flash before them as the voice of a dead man rang in her ears.

* * *

"You have lost so much, you have to survive!" Zach insisted, Alice nodding in agreement.

* * *

Asuka frowned and pressed her teeth together; she wasn't going to let Zach's words go to waste. As much as she hated it, she knew what they had to do. A frown was mirrored between her and Bokomon as she caught his eye again, his face recovering from the energy he had just expended to save someone he barely knew.

An explosion rang over them and Beowolfmon leapt back, a few Artmon disintegrating before being absorbed by their comrades.

"We won't forget you," Asuka swore. "I promise."

"Thank you." The genuine gratitude in Beowolfmon's voice was lowered only by the knowledge Asuka had that these were his final words, while the dust stopped her from seeing a tear developing in his eye. He himself attributed it to the sand. _"Never forgotten…a warrior's death," _he told himself.

"Godspeed!" Bokomon added, nodding to the brave warrior with a poor imitation of a salute.

"Don't look back. Just run, okay?" Beowolfmon growled, pressing back the emotions as the Artmon set themselves up to fire again behind him. Asuka and Bokomon nodded.

All three turned. Asuka and Bokomon: to escape. Beowolfmon: to meet his fate.

The pounding of feet, the crying of Asuka and the blasts of cannon fire were the only sounds that filled the crater, until a roaring scream silenced all.

* * *

Asuka raced over the lip of the canyon, thankful for the end of the steep gradient that bit at her legs every time they scraped on the rocks. Exhausted, distraught and weak, she collapsed to her knees. She didn't have time to groan about her exhaustion and her mental anguish though, as a roaring explosion and blast of wind from behind reminded her of what she was fleeing from.

Was that Beowolfmon's death? Or had they found others to kill?

She decided not to look behind. She'd seen too many deaths, and right now, she was ensuring she didn't die herself.

"Come on," she said to Bokomon, forcing the Digimon to resist the temptation to satisfy his morbid curiosity. He didn't want to see another sight that even his book couldn't write out of his mind.

"Right."

Exhausted already, they began to run across the desert, Asuka unconsciously ducking as she did so in the hope that it would keep her out of the Artmon's "sights". She thanked the heavens it was night-time: about the only lucky thing she had encountered lately.

"_Knowing my luck, they'll be able to see in the dark."_

* * *

**31****st**** AUGUST 2026**

* * *

Asuka collapsed to the grass of the forest plane, having only the energy to let Bokomon out of her arms so she avoided crushing him in the process. The landing woke him up, but she found it hard to care right now, even an apology beyond her.

How far had they run? Were they out of danger?

She highly doubted it.

Reaching to the D-Arc on her belt, she paused, before using her other arm to grab the other side. The navy and emerald green devices were clutched tightly: one with its screen filled with static, the other simply dead. The fuzzy form of the time was a vague memory of home comforts. Apart from the day and night though, it seemed to barely matter.

"Nearly morning," she mumbled, or at least she thought she did. As exhausted as she was, she found it hard to hear, let alone check she was actually making noise with her mouth.

Every chance they had had to stop, a sighting of an Artmon had forced her to move again. Were they following her? It wasn't like they had any way of fighting back.

Bokomon was practically asleep, but he opened an eye to speak, showing he had just a lingering thread of consciousness remaining. "Asuka…we…must…find somewhere…to stop…"

"I know," Asuka thought she answered.

"How…long till morning?" Bokomon weakly gestured to her D-Arc. She wasn't too sure how much of their exhaustion was real and how much was mental, but it was not like they felt they had much to run for, or anywhere to run to. A three day journey was vastly preferable to an indefinitely long one.

Asuka didn't need to answer. The creamy-white Digimon was answered by the sudden sweep of light across the land, and Asuka rolled over onto her back, looking up at the earth orb far above. Her eyelids fluttered, urging her to go to sleep on the soft perfectly green grass. She found it hard to argue with her.

Her head twisted to the other side. The forest clearing was beautiful, small flowers dotting it as the wind gently wavered through them, flicking up Asuka's hair just as gently. Alien scents wafted past her nose, equally captivating to a botanist and a layman.

Like every perfect scene, it wasn't to last.

"Oh for god's sake," she groaned as the peace was broken by the cocking of an Artmon. "It's just not funny anymore!" she announced as she sat up, those self-preservation instincts forcing her to break her lethargy.

She didn't want to lose another of her friends, or her life either. Reality felt so distant that she expected the latter not to hurt that much. Reality was going to school, wandering around town with mates, and weekends at grandparents. This couldn't be any more distant from that.

"LOOK OUT!"

The Artmon was suddenly struck by a strong yellow paw, sending it screaming to the ground, making a dent as it hit the grass. Asuka's breath halted in her mouth yet again.

"_What happened?!"_

"SHARP FOOT!"

The yellow blur slammed a foot straight into the Artmon. With a blue blur, the Artmon was smashed into data, absorbed by the fox-like figure floating a short way off the ground while it absorbed it.

"Wow…" Asuka mumbled, Bokomon making a similar sentiment.

A pair of three-toed feet landed on the ground, with a set of brown straps tightly tied around each, clearly more decoration than shoes. The familiar form rising above was a Renamon, no doubt about that – Asuka had seen it plenty of times on television and Digital Watch. But plenty of differences told her this wasn't a typical Renamon, not least the thicker hips and more muscular form that made its body look far more masculine. A shorter mane led up into a yellow face with sharp blue determined eyes, no feminine touch to soften them here. A thinner tail, inverted leg swirls and slightly ruffled appearance to ears, 'wings' and mane continued the differences, while brown leather-like bands were tied around the hands like on the legs. No gloves adorned the arms, instead a continuous piece of string seamlessly and repeatedly wrapped around the lower arm.

"You two okay?" the deeply masculine voice asked, yet there was a youthful edge.

"Tired…but I guess I'm fine." Asuka yawned, before feeling altogether impolite for doing so in the company of the newcomer.

"I could sleep for a week," Bokomon echoed.

"Even if you're exhausted, it's not safe out here with all these Artmon flying around. I'm surprised we've still managed to keep our secret."

The Digimon's ears twitched as his eyes kept glued to the sky, but thankfully it seemed pretty peaceful for now. The Artmon could've called for backup, however, so it was unlikely the world would stay that way for long. Their home seemed safe, but the outside world seemed to be under constant threat from enemy Digimon.

"Secret?" Bokomon asked curiously, a glance paid to Asuka who shrugged. She had no idea either, but wanting to find out at least gave her a way of taking her mind off things.

"Follow me," the Digimon gestured, taking a step forward. "We have a secret haven where we can protect you from the Artmon," he added, beginning to walk before pausing again and looking back, a smile on his face. Unlike that Asuka had seen on Renamon in the past, however, this one was oddly more pronounced. "And yes, you'll be able to sleep there too."

"I'm game," Asuka said, Bokomon nodding.

"Lead the way!" he said with a new enthusiasm, in spite of the continual attempts by his voice to thwart him and break into an almighty yawn.

They began to follow the male Renamon, his footing much more pronounced than that she had ever seen on a female, yet still lighter than Bokomon's or her own. They left the clearing and entered the forest again, passing through a vast array of random pathways through, some wavering and natural-seeming and others artificial, looking as though a ruler had been used to draw them.

Finally, however, they came to a thick line of trees at the edge of a small clearing, a seemingly impassable array.

"Are we lost?" she asked.

The smile on the male Renamon's face said otherwise as he dove his hand 'into' the tree, it passing through with no problem. He moved his hand about, just to prove his point, before pulling it back again, gasps coming from his two new companions.

"A perception filter to keep the outside world out…what did you expect from a society of Renamon?"

"A society of Renamon?" Bokomon asked, his hands on his waist-tied book. His intent to document everything never seemed to end.

"Hidden for thousands of years and only shown to a select few…oh, and all us Renamon."

"_So that's where they all vanished to," _Asuka mused. "So is it all just Renamon?" she asked curiously, looking the male Renamon over. _"An entire society of just one species,"_ she contemplated. _"Wonder what it's like," _she added, imagining a strange city full of just Renamon. Well, it was pretty much a human city, but with Renamon instead of humans: driving, shopping, working, playing…

She cursed her imagination – _that _was very unlikely. There wouldn't be cities like that in the Digital World, that'd just be silly.

"Renamon's just the name of our species, and a bit of a misnomer too," he said with a hint of irritation. "There are several subspecies in our lot…but the most famous have been Renamon…irritatingly."

"Ah, like Rika's Renamon from the real world?"

"Yeah, I know her," the male Renamon nodded, before a curious yet nervous expression crossed his face. "How's she getting on these days?"

Asuka frowned, before shrugging. "No idea…everything's gone to hell in reality."

"Wouldn't be the first time for her and her friends. Somehow I doubt it'll be the last."

"I don't know, with this sort of hell, I doubt there'll be a next time."

"Pessimist?"

"Right now, I'd say I'm an idealist. I'm pretty sure that's the optimistic view in this situation."

"You'll have to tell me what it's like out there then…I just hope they're all alright. Last time…last time we didn't get out unscathed."

"Last time? What happened last time? And when?" Bokomon asked out of curiosity, pulling out his book. "It would provide terribly good background information."

The male Renamon gave the short white one a bewildered expression, turning to Asuka. "Your friend is quite strange…no offence."

"The name's Bokomon, and I am keeper of the book," Bokomon sounded proud, in spite of what most would construe as an insult, and put out a hand which the male Renamon shook. "And I have decided something…I plan to document these events, the events of this war according to me, in the utmost of detail so that one day my once-empty book may be read by all in the Digital World, and perhaps even the real world too. I want to be known as the greatest author ever!"

"Seems like quite a goal," the male Renamon smiled.

Asuka put his hand on her chest. "And I'm Asuka Kumiko."

"Ah, so…one moment, I never get this right. You're his trainer…right?"

Asuka and Bokomon rapidly shook their heads. "Nope…and I'm not his Tamer either."

"Oh, that's the word."

Asuka nodded. "We just ended up stuck together…we came from this camp…The Camp of Survivors. It was ages away from here, but it got attacked by a horde of Artmon. I…I think we may have been the only survivors…I hope not." She didn't want to appreciate the irony of the camp's title.

"Oh," the male Renamon's expression fell. "I'm sorry…how…how many were there?"

"At least a hundred Digimon…I think," Asuka said, adding the last bit upon seeing the Digimon's expression. The figures were hard to take in, clearly.

"And that's just one camp," he said, a sobering thought as he put his hand to his head. "You know, I was just hoping I'd see a lot more of the world before it ended."

"I'm sorry, but you appear to think the world was already doomed…uh…already?" Bokomon inquired, his fairly scholarly tone covering his surprise. Surely these events hadn't been foreseen, not least since such a being would surely have done all they could to prevent them occurring?

"The world always seems to be under threat now…both worlds. I…I'd always sort of assumed that one day it would end. To be honest, we're way over schedule here. But I'm pulling the mood down. Oh, and, before I forget, the name's Renardmon." He tapped his hand on his chest.

"Ah…I was wondering," Asuka said with a light smile. "Can't believe I've never heard of you."

"Renamon rule in our society. Well, females full stop seem to rule. And plus, all the famous ones have always been Renamon…so…annoyingly," Renardmon grated, sighing deeply. "Everyone calls our species Renamon."

"So it's Renamon and Renardmon?" Bokomon asked, scratching at his book with a pencil. Asuka briefly wondered whereabouts it had come from, but decided against it.

"And DarkRenamon and DarkRenardmon. And then there's in-training, champion and ultimate ones of each of us…plus the females have mega forms."

"Wait, so only the girls can go mega?" Asuka asked, the concept rather puzzling. Even after over a century of women's rights in her own world, the gender roles of male and female still had a strong entrenchment in their culture. She couldn't help but remember the first Digimon TV show, 'Frontier'…

"As far as we can remember. Suffice to say, it sucks. The best you can hope for as a guy in this place is to become the chief Taijimon, and there's only one of him," Renardmon huffed, before gesturing to the fake line of trees behind him. "I think it's best if we get inside before the Artmon arrive again. They haven't found this place…yet."

"I apologise, but that fails to instil me with any confidence," Bokomon complained. Renardmon chuckled, before stepping backwards through the trees, leaving his two new companions to stare on at the odd sight in bewilderment.

"Should we go through?" Asuka asked the Digimon next to her, who puzzled briefly while he returned the book to its rightful place in his pink haramaki about his waist.

"It could be a trap, but he seems pretty trustworthy. And if we don't go forth, I'll have to miss out everything about this village for my book, and I've already written the title."

"Oh brother."

* * *

"You took your time. How long does it take to follow someone through fake trees?" Renardmon said to them once they reached the other side. "You know what, never mind. Welcome to the Kabuki Village!" he adopted a smile and swept his hand out across the sight.

Asuka looked past him, and immediately could only think of one word for what she saw.

"It's…paradise."

At the bottom of the gently-sloping hill upon which they stood sat a great number of traditional Japanese houses arranged neatly into a grid, albeit with some of the passageways between them looking perilously small. The tallest and most impressive building – a temple, perhaps – had a grand set of steps leading up to its raised entrance, no doubt giving a beautiful view of the lush forests and trees surrounding and hiding the village, all beneath the perfect sky. A winding stream flowed from a waterfall through the village to a small lake, the gentle trickling of water a soft background noise to the scene, while both ends of its flow vanished into the undergrowth at the edge of the village without a way through.

All about the village and meadow, flowers wafted in the gentle breeze, a breeze which occasionally picked up a leaf or blossom from one of the many trees and plants sitting around, and which certainly accounted for the pleasant smell reaching Asuka's nose. Scattered about were a great deal of yellow and black eggs, far too oversized to be from any chicken, but they were certainly not the most surprising sight to be seen.

The Digimon, on the other hand…were. The sheer number of yellow and black figures was amazing, from tiny blob-like Reremon with short tails to larger, elegant and purposeful Sakuyamon, wandering about on unknown tasks alongside their 'sisters' the Kuzuhamon. The majority of the Digimon were simply Renamon (and their derivatives), with a fair few Kyubimon-like Digimon was well, leaving Taomon and Sakuyamon as fairly rare in the society. A few other completely different Digimon were dotted about, clearly seeking shelter just like Asuka and the Digimon next to it.

"This place seems remarkably peaceful," Bokomon said, the grass soft to the touch of his feet. "What is it called again?"

"The Kabuki Village," Renardmon said with some degree of pride. "Probably the most peaceful place in the whole Digital World right now."

"I'd say the whole universe from what I've seen," said Asuka sadly, frowning again. As much as this sight was trying to, she wasn't about to let Zach's death flee her mind. He couldn't be forgotten. He just couldn't!

Renardmon nodded. "The old Priestess always said that if the Kabuki Village ever falls, then the Digital World is truly doomed. But this Village has stood for practically all of time that this world has been here, and even before it when this world was a very different place, it still existed in some form or another," Renardmon said, admiring his pleasant home and taking in with a smile the surprise of the newcomers, before he grimaced an unclear grimace. "But the Priestesses have been wrong before."

"Priestesses?" Bokomon asked.

"The head of our village, the Priestess. I'm sure she'll want to see you two, particularly a new human. It's been a while since we last saw one."

"You've met humans?" asked Asuka, the statement throwing up so many questions in her mind. Could there be others here? But why wouldn't he have mentioned yet?

"Yeah, once or twice in the past. Not in the best circumstances though…the world was ending back then too, at least for them."

"Were they the Tamers?"

"Yeah. Do you know them?"

"Not personally, but they're pretty famous in our world now. Hard to believe they started out when they were younger than me."

"Why, how old are they now?"

"30 or so I guess."

"Oh. Doesn't seem that old. I used to know someone who was over 200."

"W-what?!" Asuka stuttered. "Actually, you know what, never mind." Asuka had had enough of being confused for one day. This world was different enough without her understanding of ageing being thrown out the window too.

"Well…okay." Renardmon was perplexed by her quick dismissal of her own question, but said nothing as she settled back into looking out at the village.

"You know, I still just can't get over how many Renamon I can see…I thought you guys were really rare," Asuka mused, still transfixed by the sight at the bottom of the hill. Their presence, thankfully, had yet to attract much attention, for good or for ill. Her experience so far of this world had taught her that good attention was rather rare.

Bokomon nodded, looking up to Renardmon. "Excuse me, but with so many of you, how do you tell each other apart?"

"Yeah, do you have a name or something?" added Asuka.

"Just Renardmon," Renardmon said, shrugging.

"But you look the same as all those other Renardmon I can see down there."

"Yeah, but I would say the same about most of the humans I've seen."

"But, then how do you tell each other apart?" Asuka wondered.

"You see this tuft of hair here?" Renardmon gestured to a ruffled bit of hair on his head.

"Yeah?"

"That has absolutely nothing to do with how we tell each other apart," Renardmon answered dryly, smirking sardonically as Bokomon and Asuka looked at him with bewildered eyes. "Now quit asking – we just can."

"Perhaps you smell each other?" suggested Bokomon.

"I don't know, probably, maybe not, why does it matter?" Renardmon asked, looking flummoxed by all the questioning. Was it so complicated that he could tell the difference without some sort of arbitrary naming system? Personally, he'd never understood the need for names, at least not amongst a single species. He could tell who in his group was who.

"It's just weird, that's all," Asuka answered, frowning. "Sorry if we're bugging you."

"You're not the first to ask, trust me. Since this war began, three days ago, can you believe it, we've taken in dozens of near victims like you two, and they all react in the same way when they see this place. But…we can't take in everyone…so I just hope we're not the only ones doing so."

Asuka frowned, shaking her head. "You're not, well…at least you weren't until yesterday when they attacked our camp. Seems that everywhere I go death follows me lately."

"Everywhere you go?" Renardmon asked, yet grew to regret it as he heard the apprehension in the girl's reply. He'd touched on something deep, he could easily tell that.

"I…I was a Tamer, you see. My partner was a Hawkmon, but…when the Artmon arrived, she sacrificed herself to save someone."

"A heroic but sad death," Bokomon mused, his hands together.

"Oh…I'm sorry to hear that," apologised Renardmon.

"The kid she died to save…his name was Zach, and he had a partner too: a Candlemon."

"Was?" Renardmon asked, before a frown befell his face as he realised exactly what that meant. "Oh."

Tears bubbled at the edges of Asuka's eyes, as the male Renamon felt guiltier and guiltier for even raising the issue. Everything about this girl seemed prone to promote sadness in her.

"They died at the Camp of Survivors with the rest of them…that was only a few hours ago," Bokomon explained, Asuka trying desperately to repress the memories of the sight that was now burnt onto her vision. Sure, they had only known each other for two days, most of which they spent arguing, but…she had thought of him as a friend. They only had each other. And now she had no-one. At least, no-one human.

"I'm sick of everyone I love, like or even just meet dying in a horrible way!" Asuka cried, both Renardmon and Bokomon unsure what to do to help the human with her tears as the girl's head fell into her hands.

She hadn't even spoken of half the deaths even now. Alice, Beowolfmon, Agunimon, the SLEGNA soldiers…all she had left out, all whom had died to save her. She lived on the back of a pile of deaths, the weight on her shoulders for survival greater with every new addition.

Would the same happen to Bokomon? What about Renardmon? Maybe even the entire village? No-one seemed safe with her around. She had never been a superstitious person back at home – indeed, the feeling that she was losing her mind in thinking such things only made her mood drop even further – but right now she felt that anything could be possible.

"A human?" a new voice sounded, Renardmon turning promptly at the voice to see the newcomer, her form unlike all the others in the village at that very moment, although she looked vaguely like a Sakuyamon in some respects.

This Sakuyamon, however, wore no armour, and appeared to have human skin instead of the black and white skin-tight binding other Sakuyamon seemed to have, although she retained the face mask. Replacing the armour, a white and red dress wrapped around her shapely form, tightened by a pair of belts below her sizeable bust. The white of the dress in some places proved to be almost indistinguishable from the white of her long hair or the white mop-like object on the end of her staff, grasped by a human hand. As she stepped over to Asuka and placed her hand on her shoulder, the words from her human mouth were young, yet somehow had such wisdom backing up their tone.

"What's wrong?" she asked, Asuka looking up from her palms into the Digimon's face, her body tensing up at the touch.

"W-who are you?"

"I'm the Priestess…Sakuyamon Kabuki Mode. Taomon told me someone had arrived and…never mind, it doesn't matter. Why are you crying? Can I help?"

"Everyone I meet dies and it's all my fault!" Asuka ranted, knowing how little sense what she said made but her mind jumping at the chance to unleash these emotions she had previously been forced to bottle up for the sake of survival.

"What? How? Why?" The Priestess looked up to Renardmon for answers, but he simply shrugged before frowning.

"She said she lost one of her friends to the Artmon."

"Oh, I see…hmm…" The Priestess looked back to the girl and reached out, gently and cautiously pulling her forth into an embrace. "There-there…just let it all out…" she said to the sobbing Asuka, words failing her.

"Hmm…how does she know what to do?" Bokomon asked, looking up to Renardmon.

"When we had humans here before…we had our fair share of drama. And…she's always been nice too…and I guess she just has humans at heart."

"Interesting." Bokomon began to chew on the end of his pencil.

"What's your name?" the Priestess asked, hearing the tears begin to stem.

"Asuka…Asuka Kumiko."

"_That's a new one."_ "You're safe here, Asuka."

"Thanks. Do you run this place?"

The Priestess grimaced, glancing to Renardmon. "Officially, yeah. But everyone thinks I'm too young…too young to run anything…and that I make big mistakes."

"Too young? How old are you? You're a mega level…right?" Asuka wondered, thankful at the back of her mind for a distraction to divert her mind to.

"I've been in this form for nearly 20 years now. Seems like forever."

"You're older than me."

"I guess that's something. Do you want to come into the Temple? With all the tears, I'm betting you don't want all eyes on you," she said, gesturing around to the Digimon around them, Asuka now noticing their uneasy gazes. Humans obviously weren't run of the mill here by any means. She felt oddly privileged, even though she knew it was a simple accident of timing.

"_First good accident lately though." _"Yeah, that'd be nice. Thanks."

* * *

The steps leading up to the Temple door felt like a mountain for Asuka's weary feet, not helped by all the attention they continued to receive in spite of the Priestess giving looks of warning to all those about them. Bokomon and Renardmon followed behind them through the huge wooden sliding door, before with a satisfying clunk it slid to a close behind them thanks to an almost-hidden DarkRenardmon. The Digimon bowed to the Priestess, who replied in kind to show her gratitude.

A Youkomon greeted them from a nearby smaller room, bowing her head, and by now Asuka found herself unconsciously doing likewise, even if only slightly. The building seemed even larger on the inside than the outside, a corridor leading off from the main entrance straight through to the back with further sliding doors leading off it, while stairs went both up and down. It was without a doubt the largest building in town, and every wall was graced with perfect handcraft in its ornaments and painting. The air inside was still, yet not stale, while the pleasant floral smell seemed to only intensify.

"My Priestess," she said. "Is everything okay?"

"I need to organise a place for these two to stay."

"Hmm…" Youkomon chewed her lip, the Digimon's role oddly reminiscent of a receptionist for Asuka. "With all these injured Digimon arriving, I'm not sure how much space we have now. We've already had to make some of our people share homes."

"You could put them up in the temple…I'm sure the other elders would love that," Renardmon suggested, an oddly cheeky tone to his voice. Asuka had the distinct feeling that the pair new each other for reasons other than the fact she was his superior.

She shook her head. "As much as I'd love company, and as much as Taomon and the others try to take everything off my hands…" she said with a slightly bitter tone. "I've got a lot to do."

"Apologies if I'm talking out of turn, but the more space we can keep open the better Priestess. I fear that what we have seen so far is only the very beginning," Youkomon noted, frowning deeply.

"No, I understand."

"Sorry, we didn't want to cause any trouble," Asuka said, feeling guilty now for simply her sheer presence in the room. "We'll go if you want."

"No – you can stay with me," Renardmon suggested. "If that's okay with you?" he asked the Priestess and Youkomon, who both quickly nodded.

"Yeah, that's fine," said the Priestess, bowing lightly in gratitude. "Thanks for the offer. Now, would you come with me to my chamber? I need to talk to you," she said to Asuka, Bokomon and Renardmon, who nodded as they began to head towards the room.

"Thanks for letting us use your place Renardmon," Asuka said to the Digimon as they walked. "We won't be any trouble."

"It's better you two than getting someone I don't know dumped on me when this village reaches bursting point. Besides, you don't seem quite like the snoring type," Renardmon noted, a slight smile on his face. "Hopefully I'm right in that…"

* * *

The Priestess' chamber, spanning all three floors of the building at the back, was perhaps the most carefully crafted of all the rooms she had seen. The patterns in the woodwork became more intricate, light shone in through the roof, and a small fountain graced the centre of the huge room. As Renardmon closed the door behind them, the Priestess strode straight over to the elegant water feature, leaving Asuka and Bokomon a few moments to take in the room's splendour.

"It's a shame I'm a terrible artist," Bokomon mused, the book out in his hands again as he hurried scribbled down indecipherable notes. Asuka grimly hoped he would survive, if only so he could translate what he had written. Was it even in English?

The Priestess knelt down by the fountain before she splashed water onto her face, scooping it off with the side of her hands. "Harmony," Asuka could hear her mumble as she began to follow. "Can you hear me?"

Silence fell, apart from Renardmon's heavier footsteps on the solidly-built floorboards. He placed his hands on the Sakuyamon Kabuki Mode's shoulders, looking into the eyes on her mask as she swung around.

"Anything?"

"She's still not replying. Oh Harmony, Renamon, where are you?"

"Is something wrong?" Asuka asked nervously, feeling like she was intruding on a private moment. The Priestess gracefully stood up and turned back to her, placing one hand on her chin and the other on her hip in a pose that Asuka had not quite expected from such a being. Indeed, the Sakuyamon seemed to act rather less…Priestess-like…than she had expected. She was more youthful, perhaps not to the point of being a child, but she still seemed to lack that deep wisdom one would associate with the head of such a village. And yet, she had moments of extreme grace and age. Was this normal for a Priestess?

"Do you know what happened in the real world? How did this all start?"

"Uh…well, there was this big storm…and then this voice came over anything with a speaker…and then the Artmon arrived."

The Priestess' eyes widened. "The voice…what did it say?"

"It said…um…it said that it was going to kill a tenth of the population…and…"

"So it was the same voice then," the Sakuyamon interrupted.

"Yeah…I know. We worked it out back at the Camp of Survivors," Asuka frowned. "It said everything to everyone."

The Priestess nodded, frowning. "That was when the Artmon began to attack the Digital World too…but…I think that's the least of our worries."

"Excuse me?" Bokomon asked, sounding surprisingly offended as Asuka mentally echoed his sentiment. "How precisely could anything be more worrisome than what happened to all those Digimon in the Camp?"

The Priestess frowned, turning to glimpse at the fountain again, hoping in vain for some sign…anything. "In that message," she began, turning her head back to face Asuka and Bokomon. "She said she had Harmony…incapacitated. Even before then, I could feel something…missing. Something not quite right. When I meditated here at the fountain…I tried to contact her. But she's missing. It's like…it's like she's just…gone. Completely."

"Maybe she's gone out of range?" Bokomon suggested.

"She's not a radio Bokomon," Renardmon disagreed, sighing in disbelief. "The Priestess has a link with Harmony…every Priestess always has. It's a link that can go even between this world and the real world – to any world."

"She guides me…she helps me prophesise…she created me…I need her."

"Ah, I see – there is no explanation for why you should not be able to feel her," mused Bokomon. "And yet you do not. Puzzling."

"Priestess, I know you may not want to contemplate this," Renardmon paused, before looking his friend in the eye, or, at least, in the mask. "But what if Harmony is…dead? She could just be taking a while to reincarnate, that's all. What else could it be?"

"I have the shared knowledge of all the Priestesses…so as much as I really want to hope that's true and that this is all temporary, I know that Harmony reincarnates practically instantly as another child. I should be able to feel her…I'm second only in strength to her as Sakuyamon," she grasped at the air, clenching her hand into a fist before pulling it back. "Where are you?" she mumbled, almost as if insane.

"The worst thing is, we don't know how long this place could last without her," Renardmon noted. "Or if it relies on her at all. It could fall tomorrow, or never fall."

"What do you mean by fall? Everything here looks pretty stable," Asuka asked.

"Yeah, but that's thanks to the Priestess and Harmony. She maintains the barrier around this place, while Harmony keeps everything here harmonious and balanced. This is her perfect society."

"She meant it to be a perfect society," the Priestess corrected. "But we're not…and it's my fault…" she frowned, placing her hand on her chest and closing her eyes briefly. Renardmon seemed unsurprised, while Asuka raised an eyelid in slight bewilderment, but she quickly brushed it off once the Priestess continued to talk. "When I met Harmony…our bond was almost shattered, but it grew again. This place has stayed strong all these years…but now Harmony has simply vanished. I truly have no idea what happened to her."

"If Harmony's a god, surely…surely she can just fix everything?" Asuka asked, but knew very well from Digital Watch that the 'god' status was a misnomer. Things were far from being that simple. "If she's poof'ed out of existence she can just re-poof herself back in, right?"

"I have no idea. I'm worried for Rika, Rei and Renamon too. And, I must admit, for Takato and Chaos…I would imagine that he is involved somehow, if he was not the direct cause of her downfall," her voice became more bitter later on, before she inwardly cursed herself. She had learnt a different way – she had to stick to it. "I'm sorry to have scared you…this is why I must devote my time towards trying to contact her, even if I must search to every recess of my mind. But this place…it should be safe…I hope…even Harmony had to be directed here. She forgot that she had created this place entirely."

"Doesn't that just make you feel loved?" Renardmon said cynically, before the scratching of a pencil made him turn his head. "Are you writing this all down?!"

"I am Bokomon, keeper of the nearly-empty book and documenter of this war to end all wars…so…yes, yes I am as a matter of fact."

"Could you not? It's just that this is all very private stuff."

"Ah…if I must I suppose," Bokomon sighed, returning the pen and book to his pink haramaki.

"Thank you," the Priestess said, before turning her head to face her old friend. "Renardmon, can you please take these two to your place and make sure they're comfortable and safe. I'll come over soon enough if I can. I need to think first."

"Fine," he answered, nodding. "Are you sure you don't need any help?" He pondered whether there was anything he could actually do for the troubled Priestess. It killed him to see his old friend Renamon like this. She was always the innocent one, so why did she have to deal with this all now?

She shook her head, frowning. "Sorry," she answered. "I'm afraid…but I don't know who could help. All of this is new…no-one has ever had to deal with this before. I'm not experienced enough to work out what to do, and that's all my fault. I wish they hadn't picked me for this stupid role," she sighed. "All I can do is meditate…I feel so useless! Ugh!" To Asuka, she continued to sound more like a teenager or young adult, more around her actual age, than what she expected from someone in her 'stupid role'.

"Cheer up, it could be worse," Renardmon noted, smiling in reassurance, as Asuka and Bokomon did likewise (yet less convincingly).

"How exactly?" the Priestess asked curiously, tilting her head and putting her hand on her hip. "Our entire culture could be doomed, along with the universe too," she noted, irradiated by the concept that things could be worse. "So how exactly could it be worse?"

"Uh…" Renardmon pondered. _"Think fast…" _he pleaded. "Well…you could lose your good looks?" he mooted, laughing nervously. Being placed on the spot like that, with the head of their village no less, was not a fun experience, although the Digimon's reaction was amusing to watch.

"Thanks for the compliment." The Priestess forced down her embarrassed smile, half-irritated that he made such a joke in such a time and half-pleased that the stress had not cost her beauty, even if she had a hunch that Renardmon was just saying it as a cop-out. "Now go," she ordered, gesturing away from the room with her staff.

"Thank you for all the help," Asuka said, bowing lightly. "I hope you manage to contact Harmony."

"Thanks." Footsteps and the clunking of the heavy wooden door later, the Priestess found herself alone again in the huge chamber, her breaths echoing in the vast space. "Change…something's finally changing," she noted, not sure whether to be thankful. The horrified monotony of the last few days had ended – a human had arrived, and history had taught her well that change always followed closely behind them.

Turning, she dropped to her knees by the fountain again, the water softly and calmly pouring down into its lower tray. If this was chaos – if this was the end of the world – then why was everything still so peaceful? Alas, the fountain did not answer her, but she already knew what she had to do if she wanted any hope of fixing things.

"_I must find Harmony."_

Placing her hand over her face, she let her fingers circle on her temples as she dug deep into her mind. Somewhere, somehow, she had to find a link. Somewhere down there, something had to still exist. Harmony couldn't have gone entirely…just a little deeper…just a little d…

"_Hello?"_

"Huh?"

"_Hello? What's going on? Hello?"_

"What?"

"_Where am I?"_

"I think I'm going crazy…I'm hearing voices."

"_Going crazy…wait…who are you? And I'm real! I'm not a voice! Well…I guess I am…but…"_

"Are you Harmony?"

"_Who?"_

"Who are you?"

"_I…uh…I am…uh…my mind…it feels like fire…aaaah…help me! It hurts so much!"_

"What? What's happening? Hello? Hello?"

The voice was gone with a painful and long scream, one which faded away gradually into nothing yet which would haunt Sakuyamon for the rest of her days. She delved around in her mind for the link again, but she felt weakened. Ever so weakened. Her body tingled, a disturbing and unnerving feeling that made her move towards the fountain to splash water on her face, shuddering as she did so.

Finally pausing and looking down at her reflection, she felt somehow…odd.

"Am I going insane?"

She crossed her arms across her chest and held herself tightly, one hand making its way out in front of her, her eyes carefully scrutinising every little part of its human form in close detail. It was still her. The voice was gone. Perhaps it had never existed?

But inwardly, she knew it had.

Really, she knew what it was.

And to her horror, she felt that overwhelming tide of guilt return, guilt from fifteen years before.

"I'm sorry."

A tear drop landed in the fountain.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

**A/N: **If you've read the original, you might notice a few of the changes. But otherwise, treat this as the authoritative version, since now it's aligned with events in Book Seven. And this is your final warning: read Book Seven, because next time will definitely spoil Book Seven for you if this chapter hasn't already.

Until next time…


End file.
